The S&P Cnx Defty fell by 1.75 points to close at 993.15 from its previous last close of 994.90. The S&P Cnx 500 eased by 0.20 points to 845.35 from 845.55, while the Cnx Midcap 200 dropped to 727.60 from Wednesday's level of 726.35. The total turnover was Rs 2,135.17 crore from 1044.98 lakh shares in 3,29,342 trades. As many as 533 securities advanced, 530 declined and 63 held steady. About 92 securities had hit their price bands.

The most actively traded securities were L&T (with a turnover of Rs 319.41 crore), SBI (Rs 240.54 crore), Reliance (Rs 223.29), Telco (Rs 170.59), Satyam Computer (Rs143.79 crore), ITC (Rs 121.99 crore) and Pentafour Software (Rs 108.14 crore).

Meanwhile, in the settlement day trading on the Calcutta Stock Exchange there was continued support for cement shares which posted fresh gains. Other select counters also rallied reflecting new interest. The CSE 40 share index moved between 2286.25 and 2265.62 points and finally closed at 2274.74. L&T gained further ground at Rs 344.20 while Grasim was marked up to Rs 301 and Gujarat Ambuja to Rs 352.

In Delhi, shares recovered in the last few minutes of trading today on heavy buying by foreign funds in select index stocks. Cement and banking sectors led the late recovery. The DSE index ended at 958.48, up 3.30 points, or 0.34 per cent, from Wednesday's close.

Some foreign funds bought L&T, Tata steel, Telco and SBI in the closing minutes, which pushed the index up, dealers said. L&T moved up by Rs 23.25 at Rs 345.25 while Telco shot up by Rs 17.15 to Rs 238.65. Cement major ACC increased by Rs 10 to Rs 197.70 while SBI wentup by Rs 4 to Rs 263.50.

Earlier in the day, short-term players sold software stocks aggressively and some local funds took profits in commodity stocks. The poor first quarter results by BFl Software led to concerns that the results of other software companies may also be affected adversely in the current quarter.

This prompted short-term investors to sell software stocks across the board, dealers said. Satyam Software lost 46.50 at Rs 1218. Other losers included Silverline, Rolta, Reliance Industries (despite good first quarter results), MTNL, Pentafour, HCL Infosystems, Glaxo, Digital and Bajaj Auto.

On the other hand, Gujarat Ambuja gained by Rs 7 to Rs 349. Other prominent gainers included ABB, Hindustan Lever, Tisco and Hero Honda. Aptech and infosys maintained Wednesday's closing level.