Thursday, January 6 2005 17:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The market went on a roller-coaster ride after the overnight mayhem on bourses, fluctuating in wide ranges before ending the day down by a whopping 91 points driven lower by sustained profit selling.

Opening weak at 6447.27, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index later fluctuated erratically in a range of 6481.23 and 6324.53 before ending the day at 6367.39 as against yesterday's close of 6458.84, a net loss of 91.45 points or 1.42 per cent.

Despite positive reports about India's fiscal system, operators and Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their sales for the second consecutive day even as brokers termed the negative reaction as a necessary correction to the overheated market.

FIIs, which reported net purchases of Rs 546.50 crore in first two sessions of the week, reportedly made withdrawals to the tune of over Rs 600 crore on Wednesday, brokers said.

Meanwhile, international rating agency Standard & Poor's in its latest research report said that India has a more transparent fiscal system and it enjoys more monetary flexibility than China.

Indian financial institutions and mutual funds reportedly supported the market at the lower levels. Brokers said they made fairly heavy purchases on dips.

Metal sector was the worst sufferer. Tata Steel, Ispat Ind, Hindalco, Jindal Steel, Sterlite Ind, SAIL, Jindal Iron, Hind Zinc, Nalco and Sesa Goa suffered a sharp setback.

SBI, RIL, Wipro, Tata Motors, ONGC, Satyam Computer, ONGC L&T, ITC, Bajaj Auto, Dr Reddy's, GACL, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and HLL also dropped sharply.