Brokers said that the sentiment was better during the earlier part of the session following fresh purchases made by foreign investors in infotech stocks which pushed the Sensex to a high of 4653.26. However, it fell back substantially towards the close to 4584.10 with a net loss of 22.06 points as compared to the previous level of 4606.16. The BSE-100 index was almost steady at 2156.07 as compared to the previous close of 2156.04. Brokers said the sentiment was partially affected following the statement by Petroleum Minister Ram Naik that the diesel price would be reviewed by the month-end coupled with the last day of the current settlement. However, refinery shares like BPCL,Madras Refineries and HPCL recorded smart gains on the news of likely hike in diesel prices.

The FIIs continued their buying spree today and reportedly made purchases in ITC and IT counters. The outstanding positions which was around Rs 2400 crore is also indicating lower badla rates during tomorrow's weekly badla trading session and market is likely to stage some rally on Monday before a day's holiday on Tuesday in the next week. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has reportedly advanced its weekly trading cycle by a day on Monday in view of Tuesday's holiday on account of "Gurunanak Jayanti", few operators, however, cautioned about a dull trend ahead in view of shifting of 54 shares to demat from next week. Few scrips like Zee Telefilm, Him Fut Comm, Infosys Technologies and NIIT closed higher even after facing speculative selling pressure during the day.