Sensex (BSE sensitive index) earlier moved past the 4100 level to the intra-day high of 4121.74 on sustained bull support prompted by hopes that the proposed talks between India and Pakistan to defuse the Kargil situation would yield positive results. However, Sensex dropped later following increased selling to close at 4041.89 with a net loss of 24.93 points compared to the previous level of 4066.82. The BSE-100 index also moved down by 3.96 points to 1756.47 from the previous close of 1760.43.

Brokers said institutional investors made fresh purchases in software scrips besides other stocks like Mahindra, Larsen, Tisco, Corporation Bank, Oriental Bank and some others. Market sourcesattributed the drop in share prices to fresh selling spree by the UTI in prime counters. Pharma and infotech groups witnessed marginal movement. Fast movable consumer goods (FMCG) scrips also reported marginal gains.

Of the total specified scrips, 60 shares scored handsome gains. However, 85 shares including index heavy-weights like Telco, MTNL, ITC, BSES, Hind Lever, Reliance, SBI and Tisco showed moderate falls. SBI remained the most active scrip with a turnover of Rs 212.47 crore of the total volume of business of Rs 1566.24 crore but the scrip dropped by Rs 3 to Rs 251.50 on selling pressure.