Tuesday, March 22 2005 16:46 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: High global oil prices continued to cast a shadow on the market and the Sensex today (March 22, 2005) tumbled by 121 points on across-the-board selling pressure from domestic investors amid a slowdown in FII inflows in the run-up to the fiscal year-end.

International crude prices fell in Asian trading but remained well above $ 57 a barrel leading to worries that the rising oil prices might adversely impact the economy in the long term.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened steady at 6655.78 and later gradually moved downwards to the intra-day low of 6520.15 before ending the day at 6535.45 against yesterday's close of 6656.69, a net loss of 121.24 points or 1.82 per cent.

With approaching end of the current financial year, local investors including domestic funds resorted to heavy selling in a bid to wind up positions even as crude oil prices ruled around the record high levels and the principal driving force Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) slowed down activity.

FIIs, which reported relatively small net investments of Rs 136 crore on March 18, were believed to be keeping low profile in the prevailing market situation.

Operators and traders, which seemed to be unwilling to carry forward their long outstanding positions to new financial year, reportedly were heavy sellers in a number of blue chip counters.

Heavy weighted counters like RIL, Tata Motors, SBI, ITC, Tata Steel, HPCL, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Grasim, Hindalco, BHEL, GACL, HDFC, Wipro and HDFC Bank bore the brunt of selling pressure and recorded sharp falls.