Dealers said that rumours about hike in petrol prices affected market sentiments towards the fag end. Further, the squaring up of position by marketmen at the BSE on account of the last day of the weekly settlement also aided the bearish trend. New economy stocks including Satyam Comp, Infosys Tech, Global Tele, Zee Tele suffered badly on profit-taking selling pressure from local operators, while ACC, Ranbaxy, and Dr Reddy registered moderate gains on buying support.