Tuesday, February 14 2006 16:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Shares succumbed to heavy profit-selling and fell steeply, pushing the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex sharply down by 86.62 points to end at 10,086.63.

The BSE's 30-shares sensitive index, after a strong start at 10,180.51 as against yesterday's high closing of 10,173.25, shot up further to an intra-day high of 10,185.06 during early trading. Later, the index plunged to a low of 10,064.46, before ending at 10,086.63, showing a steep fall of 0.85 per cent over the previous close.

Retail investors were booking profit at yesterday's (Feb 13,2006) steep rally when the index had closed at a historic high, while Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued to buy heavily, dealers said.

Some dealers described today's fall as technical correction ahead of the Union Budget to be presented in Parliament during the last week of the month. Investors wanted to make their position safe before making any further commitments, they added.

Meanwhile, FIIs with a net investment of Rs 614.4 crore on February 10, have already purchased shares worth Rs 3,112 crores in the current month. However, they were net sellersworth Rs 118.40 crore on February eight.

Bucking the general trend, HLL displayed remarkable rallyon heavy buying prompted by excellent fourth quarter results by the company. HLL's results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2005 rallied by 56 per cent to Rs 520.86 crore as against Rs 333.67 crores for the corresponding period of the previous year.