Rumours did their rounds to maul sentiment, in an eventful day, with the most damaging being that of a Rs 500-700 crore net FII outflow figure for Friday. This unnerved marketmen leading to panic selling. However, the actual figures published after the markets closed show a net outflow of Rs 83 crore only.

Market players feel that the 6 per cent fall in the Sensex was an over-reaction on the part of the market. And brokers put the onus on the operators for this sharp fall. The general feeling in the market is that the situation is not so serious as to warrant selling of such magnitude. But the fact remains that all-round selling has wiped out market capitalisation worth more than Rs 41,500 crore in a single day.

According to Abhay Aima at HDFC Bank, except the recent spate of selling by the FIIs, nothing else is serious. ``The rate hike is not going to hurt the infotech sectors in any way,'' said Aima. ``Infotech companies do not depend on outside funds much. On the other hand, depreciation of rupee will directly add up to their bottomline which is actually better for them,'' explained Aima.

On Monday, the Sensex closed at the day's low of 4188.34. And brokers see this as an indication for the market to weaken further. According to Rajiv Sampat at Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services, ``We are expecting at least another 200-point fall in the Sensex from the current level.'' ``But the fall might not stop there,'' he added.

However, the broking community is unanimous that going by the indications since Friday evening, it was clear there will be selling in the market on Monday. ``But the magnitude of fall was unimaginable for everyone of us,'' said a dealer with a domestic broking house. ``And we don't see any immediate recovery in the market in the short-run,'' he added.

In Monday's across the board selling, the stocks from the software sector took the hardest hit. A large number of stocks dipped more than 8 per cent. Stocks like Digital Equipment, Wipro, SSI, Satyam Comp, Pentamedia, Silverline, Rolta, Global Tele, HFCL, DSQ Soft, Aptech, Leading Edge, and HCL Info feature in this list.

Not that the stocks from the other sector remained strong. Even counters like HLL, SBI, ACC, Tisco, L&T, Telco, M&M, Ranbaxy, and Reliance also took sharp beating, and affected the sentiment badly. The advance-decline ratio was extremely bearish at 1:3.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensitive Index opened at 4347.52 points, and dipped to a low of 4189.30 points before closing at 4191.02 points. The high for the day was 4353.44 points.

Similarily, the S&P CNX Nifty lost 79.50 points to close at 1317.75 points. The high for the day was 1397 points whereas the low for the day was 1310.85 points.

Meanwhile, the trading volume on the BSE was Rs 3497 crore, and the same figure on the NSE was Rs 4321 crore.

The stocks which gained more than 7.9 per cent were Adam Comsoft, Nucle Soft, GV Films, Elbee Services, Amtek Auto, Twinstar Soft. Other gainers for the day were Sarvodaya Lab, Crisil, Ami Computers, Century Enka, Varun Ship, Bannari Aman, Movilex Irr, Clariat, Prima Plast.

At the same time, stocks which dipped more than 7.9 per cent were Zee Tele, Satyam Comp, HFCL, Global Tele, Wipro, Pentamedia, Silverline, DSQ Soft, L&T, SSI, Dig Equipment, Rolta, ACC, M&M, SBI, Aptech, Rel Capital, Moser Baer, HCL Info, Grasim, McDowell, VSNL.

Other losers for the day were Infosys, Sterlite, HLL, Tisco, Century, Escorts, Bhel, BPL, BSES, ICICI, HPCL, Glaxo, Orient Info, Hughes Soft, Kale Consult and Aurobindo Pharma.