Thursday, March 24 2005 16:36 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The initial euphoria turned out to be short-lived as late bout of sell-off by hedge funds once again pulled down the Sensex from the day's high to end 12 points lower at 6442.87 in extremely volatile trade, extending the losing streak to fourth straight session.

The Sensex has fallen by 257.47 points or 3.84 per cent during the four-day week ahead of a public holiday on March 25 for "Good Friday".

The top heavyweight RIL, however, bucked the trend for the second consecutive day riding high on hopes of an amicable settlement to the family feud.

The fall in Sensex would have been more pronounced had it not been for gains in key heavyweight counters like SBI, ITC, Tata Steel and Grasim.

After a smart rally to the intra-day high of 6514.73, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index later succumbed to heavy selling pressure in the run-up to fiscal yearend and dropped sharply to the day's low of 6412.89 before ending the day at 6442.87 as against yesterday's close of 6454.46, a net fall of 11.59 points or 0.18 per cent.

Crediting the initial price rally to declining crude oil prices, which have fallen to below $ 54 dollars a barrel, brokers said the market failed to sustain the gains and buckled under late selling triggered by negative FII activity.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), which reported net sales of Rs 42.50 crore on Tuesday, were believed to be heavy sellers in blue chip counters.

Selling pressure was partly attributed to long weekend with the expiry of derivatives contract just a few days away.