Interestingly, the net long positions on the BSE increased by a net Rs 111 crore to close at Rs 1,082.3 crore. The increase in the long positions, according to brokers, was triggered off by attempts made by market intermediaries to shift their positions from NSE to BSE, since today was the last day of account on the NSE. The S&P Nifty Index registered a marginal gain of 8.25 points to close at 1,160.15 points.

The gross short positions at the exchange were marked at a high of Rs 595.5 crore while the long positions stood at Rs 1,677.8 crore.

Analysis of the net outstanding positions at select cyclical stocks reveals thatdelivery-based selling was registered during the day on the BSE. According to brokers, stocks like Reliance, SBI, HLL and MTNL have witnessed a considerable chunk of institutional selloff at the bourses on Tuesday.

In the case of Reliance, the short positions have dipped by 2.5 lakh shares, which reveals that the counter has witnessed delivery-based selling to the tune of 2 lakh shares. Similarly, about 25,000 shares have been sold at the counter of HLL and about 5 lakh shares at MTNL.

Interestingly, despite MTNL being locked at the upper limit of the intra-day price band, the counter show the short positions rise from 2.8 lakh shares to a high of 10.3 lakh shares.

"Technically, the Sensex seems to be in the last stages of its current upmove. Its daily indicators are nearing overbought levels. However, the weekly indicators are rising but are not yet overbought. We expect the Sensex to rise early in the week and face resistance from the 4,111-4,147 representing past levels and resistance from the linedrawn connecting the recent tops," explained a leading technical analyst.

According to brokers, the sell-off came in the light of the FII figures for Monday. FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 35 crore which proved to be a disappointing factor for the markets.

"Some fears on the US markets have been driving the markets downward. There is a natural resistance at 4,100 points. Technically, however, the market is poised for a good rally given the fact that individual stocks are showing healthy signs of recovery," said BSE broker, Ramesh S Damani.

According to brokers, short term traders were taken by surprise as they failed to find an opportunity to cut their short positions.

Cyclical majors like Reliance and IPCL witnessed huge volumes on the local bourses. While Reliance clocked a phenomenal volume of over 2.5 crore shares between the two exchanges, IPCL also registered a volume of over 30 lakh shares.

While pharma and infotech stocks continued to move on a lacklustre note, Infosys Technologiesproved to be an exceptional case as the stock enters the no-delivery phase on the NSE from May 19. On the BSE, the stock registered a gain of Rs 102 to close at Rs 3,196.