Mumbai: Fresh onslaught by retailers sent stocks reeling down sharply and the Sensex crashed by 153 points at close at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (Feb 23, 2004).

Retailers reportedly were heavy sellers in derivatives segment ahead of expiry of February contract on February 26.

Extending its losses to fourth straight session, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index that initially had risen to the day's high at 5875.23, gradually moved downwards to end at 5698.04 as against last Friday's close of 5850.72, netting a hefty loss of 152.68 points or 2.61 per cent.

Retailers who generally have adopted wait-and-watch policy ahead of the impending general elections, remained heavy sellers throughout the session in an attempt to reduce their holdings in Futures and Options segment by booking profits at the prevailing higher price levels, brokers said.

They seemed to be interested in diverting investments to primary market that has become focus of investors' attention in view of key public issues. Government is making public offers to sell its stake in some large companies in the next couple of months, brokers added.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained the main driver of the market, having stepped up activity during last week. FIIs made net investments of Rs 1,070 crore in the first four sessions of last week.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index also tumbled by 91.96 point to 2945.88 from previous close of 3037.84.

Key counters like RIL, Tata Motor, Tisco, SBI, Grasim, Satyam Computers, ONGC, Zee Tele, L&T, HPCL, HLL, Bajaj Auto, BHEL and GACL recorded sharp losses.