Sustained selling by cautious investors pulled down the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex by 48 points today despite a positive opening.
The 30-BSE benchmark, which had lost 191 points in the previous session, slid further by 48.38 points to 17,460.95.
Finance company stocks came off the intense pressure they were in the past and and the sectoral index managed to end higher. All other sectoral indices lost ground.
The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 14.30 points to 5,237.10. It had surged to 5,277.25 at the outset on selective buying.
While foreign funds were cautious before the release of US jobs data, domestic funds turned selective buyers in purchasing fundamentally strong stocks available at cheaper levels.
A mixed pattern in the Asian region and a better opening in Europe did not reverse the trend, marketmen said.
IT stocks Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services were able to buck the overall trend to end, helped by a in fall in the value of the Indian rupee against the US dollar. About 50 per cent of the revenue of the Indian software industry comes from American and European markets. However, the largest IT company in terms of weight on the Sensex, Infosys fell by 1.39 per cent to Rs 2,729.
Another index heavyweight, Reliance Industries, fell by 0.72 per cent to Rs 1,068.45. RIL and Infosys carry nearly 23 per cent weightage on the Sensex.