Tuesday, June 28 2005 17:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Sharp fall in shares of major blue chip companies, including Reliance Infosys and ITC, on heavy fag-end selling pressure pulled the Sensex down steeply by 102 points today (Jun 28, 2005), the biggest single-day fall after April 29 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Mirroring the market trend, the BSE barometer, 30-share sensitive index opened on a positive note at 7158.66 as against yesterday's close of 7151.08 and rose further to an intra-day high of 7175.15.

Later, it nose-dived to the day's lowest level of 7036.06, before closing at 7049.00, showing a steep fall of 102.08 points or 1.43 per cent over the previous close.

Brokers said that market was expecting some favourable announcement in today's RIL board meeting, but later indulged in heavy selling after nothing came out of it.

RIL shares moved in a wide range between Rs 652.00 and Rs 629.10, before ending at the day's lowest level of Rs 629.10, showing a fall of Rs 19.30 or 2.98 per cent.

Similarly, shares of REL, after fluctuating between Rs 652.70 and Rs 624.20, ended at Rs 625.15, revealing a fall of Rs 14.65 or 2.29 per cent over the previous close.

Rising crude oil prices, which was quoted at $60.42 a barrel also dampened the market sentiment.

Among other indices, the BSE-Metal index plunged by 165.02 points to 5369.07. Similarly, BSE-Oilgas index fell sharply by 69.60 points to 3359.71, BSE-Smallcap by 85.09 points to 4333.86, BSE-Auto dropped by 50.25 points to 2892.80, BSE-Midcap by 56.33 to 3272.37 and BSE-PSU by 57.77 points to 4298.59.