The BSE 30-share sensitive index zoomed past the 4800-mark to the day's high of 4823.24 at the early stages but failed to maintain higher level later lost part of its initial gains and closed at 4757.82 with a small gain of 22.01 points compared to yesterday's close of 4735.81. The BSE-100 index gained by 12.20 points to 2220.94 from the previous close of 2208.74

Brokers said the substantial fall in the index was mainly due to selling pressure in scrips like BPCL, Infosys Tech, BHEL, Grasim, Hindalco, ITC, Mahindra and others. The downturn was also due to selective selling by operators who squared up positions at the week-end. But speculators consistently chasedpharma scrips like Dabur India, Sun Pharma, Knoll Pharma, Rhone Poule, Wockhardt and Pfizer.

Operators which had cornered the high-priced software shares in the last couple of days, unloaded part of their positions to book profits on the last day of the account. Of the 156 traded specified shares, 58 registered sharp to moderate gains while 92 showed losses and six held steady.

The volume of business rose sharply to a new high of Rs 3181.11 crore. Reliance clocked the highest turnover of Rs 283.49 crore. Zee Telefilms firmed up by Rs 155 to Rs 4739, Global Telefilms by Rs 3.25 to Rs 541.35.