Mumbai: After a two-day steady performance, stocks once again crashed pulling the Sensex down by 121 points at close on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (March 18, 2004) on heavy sell-off at the fag end by domestic funds.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index that witnessed movements in relatively small range of sixty points, gradually declined after 15:00 hours (IST) as local funds made all-round selling and ended at 5414.94 as against yesterday's close of 5535.69, netting a whopping fall of 120.75 points or 2.18 per cent.

The BSE barometer had fallen by about 180-points on March 15 before showing some stability during last two sessions.

Despite FIIs net inflows in the past three sessions, brokers said private mutual funds reportedly were heavy sellers in view of approaching end of current financial year.

Brokers also attributed the all-round sell-off by funds to redemption pressure on them.

Selling pressure was more pronounced in heavyweighted counters like RIL, Tisco, Tata Motors, SBI, MTNL, L&T, HPCL, BHEL and Bajaj Auto, besides in IT majors Infosys Tech, Wipro and Satyam Computers.

The market totally discounted a sharp rally on Wall Street last night. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained by 115.63 points and the Nasdaq Composite Index closed 33.67 points higher yesterday.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index tumbled by 52.94 points to close at 2878.38 from previous close of 2931.32.

However, ONGC, Dr Reddy's Lab and HDFC scored marked gains on selective buying support.