The BSE Sensitive index declined from the inter-day high of 3185.47 points to close at 3138.66 points as against the previous close of 3162.18 points. The BSE-100 index lost 9.45 points to 1388.12 from the previous level of 1397.57.

Brokers said that speculative scrips like NIIT, Satyam Computers, Pentafour Software, ITC, SBI, Reliance and Zee Telefilms attracted profit taking. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) pressed fresh sales in key scrips like Reliance, SBI, Telco, BHEL, Bajaj Auto, BSES, Castrol, Colgate and Satyam Computer. They were, however, reported to have picked up small quantity shares of Hindustan Lever, L&T, ITC, M&M and others.

Initially, bulls turned cautious and stopped making fresh commitments in thelight of political developments. Sustained offerings by FIIs after mid-session discouraged the operators further forcing them to lighten their long outstanding positions while some of them even covered short positions in some scrips.

Total volume of business amounted Rs 1,226.80 crore. Zee Telefilms lost by Rs 8.25 to Rs 671.75, Pentafour by Rs 14.75 to Rs 580,ITC by Rs 7 to Rs 678, Reliance by Rs 1.90 to Rs 119.60 and SBI by Rs 3.40 to Rs 201 on selling pressure.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), equities dipped modestly on selling pressure from financial institutions (FIs) and Mutual Funds (MFs) as well as foreign institutional investors (FIIs). FIIs bought shares worth Rs 10.47 crore and sold shares amounting to Rs 13.76 crore. FIs and (MFs) picked up shares valued at Rs 5.83 crore while pressing sales of shares to the tune of Rs 27.34 crore. The S&P CNX Nifty and Defty softened by 6.30 and 4.80 points to close at 914.50 and 746.05.The total turnover was moderately up at Rs 1431.55crore.