"Market makers seem to be now awaiting the US sanctions. Analysts seem to be closely studying the impact of these sanctions on the performance of the Indian companies," said Skindia Finance's Maneesh Gupta.

According to fund managers here who have kept themselves abreast of the movements in the GDR markets, market makers are sceptical about the earnings per share (EPS) and other price-earning ratios of those companies whose earnings depend largely on exports.

"Sanctions are likely to hit certain specific sectors like software hence, the EPS of these companies which reflects good potential growth would be adversely affected," said a fund manager with a leading FII brokerage outfit.

GDRs of pivotals continued to be hammered in the absence of adequate liquidity. GDRs of infrastructure companies like GujaratAmbuja Cement fell by 7.50 per cent to $7.40 during the mid-session on the London Stock Exchange.

The GDRs of L&T, which were on a steady rise till now on account of the contrarian theory followed by market analysts, plunged by 5.08 per cent to close at $14.

GDRs of MTNL continued to lose value on continuous selling by FIIs at higher levels. The GDR closed at $14.90, at a premium of 18 per cent to its underlying share.

Interestingly, the lacklustre movement in the Reliance's underlying share reflected in its performance in the GDR market as well.

While the GDR of Reliance registered a loss of 5.79 per cent to $8.95, it still underperformed its underlying share by over 6.70 per cent.

The GDR of SBI quoted at $18.25, registering a loss of 4.2 per cent. However, the fall failed to influence the premium commanded by its GDR at over 30 per cent.

ITC, however, registered a loss of 1.71 per cent to close at $23, trading at a premium of 16.71 per cent.