The BSE Sensitive index declined from the intra-day high of 2862.31 points to finish at 2812.49 points over the previous close of 2845.16 points. The BSE-100 index also declined by 13.65 points to 1260.78 points from the previous close of 1274.43 points.

Brokers said that in absence of follow up support, the operators squared up their position in view of end-account considerations. The domestic institutions like LIC and the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) made moderate purchases at select counters like MTNL and Satyam Computers while the UTI preferred to stay away from active buying.

Total turnover was Rs 1200.64 crore.ITC stood first in the list of turnover by registering highest turnover of Rs 252 crore, SatyamComputer Rs 177.78 crore, SBI Rs 106.47 crore, Pentafour Rs 72.89 crore, Reliance Rs 68.53 crore and MTNL Rs 57.37 crore.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), pivotals continued to fall due to increased selling by the FIIs and domestic funds. The S&P CNX Nifty index declined further by 3.40 to 828.85 from the last close of 832.25. The total volume of business was at Rs 1,399.26 crore. The exchange witnessed 370 scrips advance, 531 scrips decline and 107 scrips remain steady. About 42 securities had hit their price bands today, the NSE said.