Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and IT counters hogged the limelight even as the market ended fractionally lower in lacklustre activity amidst alternate bouts of buying and selling by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) coupled with short-covering by operators a day ahead of expiry of July Contract in derivatives.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened moderately higher at 5087.66 and later moved in a narrow range of 5104.66 and 5045.46 before ending at 5070.29 as against yesterday's (July 27, 2004) close of 5075.88, a net fall of 5.59 points or 0.11 per cent.

Operators seemed to be cautious on signs of negative activity by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) that were believed to be sellers in the Futures and Options (F&O) segment in the last couple of sessions.

FII inflow has been on the decline in June and July after a hefty withdrawal of Rs 3272 crore on bourses and Rs 302 crore in debt market in May.

FIIs have pumped in only Rs 312 crore and Rs 847 crore on bourses in June and July (till July 26) while pulling out Rs 833 crore and Rs 198 crore in debt market.

RIL was in the forefront following robust first quarter working results announced by the company. IT stocks attracted keen demand prompted by overnight smart rally on Wall Street.

The Nasdaq Composite Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average yesterday ended up by 30.08 points and 123.22 points respectively.

SBI suffered another sharp setback on sustain selling triggered by a substantial fall in the Bank's total income in the first quarter.