Sentiment was also partially dampened by the slowdown in purchases by institutional players. DSQ Soft, HFCL, Global Tele, Satyam Comp, and Zee Tele were major losers. The fall was triggered by DSQ Software which lost more than 4 per cent. Other stocks like Infosys, and Silverline also showed a negative close.

Meanwhile, SSI, Rolta, and Pentamedia were major gainers. SSI, and Pentamedia recorded their all time high volumes. While SSI, and Rolta gained more than 5 per cent, Pentamedia gained more than 2 per cent. While pivotals remained under pressure, stocks from the pharma sector remained in good demand. Ranbaxy, Wockhardt, Smithkline Pharma, Cipla, and Dr Reddy showed handsome gains. The cement stocks like ACC, and L&T also witnessed buying interest.

Himachal Futur was the most active scrip with turnover of Rs 830.27 crore of the total volume of Rs 5151.04 crore on BSE. Other top traded shares were Zee Telefilms (Rs 611.62 crore), Satyam Computers (Rs 600.01 crore), Silverline (Rs 406.27 crore) and Pentamedia (Rs 396.64). The number of advances stood at 698 and the number of declines stood at 636. Around 141 stocks remained unchanged.

Stocks which gained more than 7.9 per cent were BOB, Wockhardt, Leading Edge, Jain Studio, Nirma, Global Trust, Lupin Lab, Salora Int, Mascon Global, Wordwide Tele, Pun Com, Sibar Soft. Other gainers for the day were SSI, ACC, VSNL, Smithkline Pharma, Himalaya Int, EIH, Max India, Hotel Leela, Tata Telcom, CMS, Shetron, SQL Star.

At the same time, stocks which dipped more than 7.9 per cent were Advent Com, Netvista, Yokogawa Blue, Videocon VCR, Ion Exchange. Other losers for the day were Apollo Tyres, Today'w Writing, Nat Radio, Elbee Services, Fortune Info, Denim Ent, Veronica Lab, Sarvodaya Lab, Vision Tech, Silverline and Pentamedia.