Markets opened on a firm note at 3,111.02, touched the day's high of 3,132.59, fell to touch the day's low of 3,080.71 before closing at 3,080.91 points. On the National Stock Exchange the CNX S&P Nifty lost 3.95 points to close at 897.70 from its previous close of 901.65

According to provisional figures collated by NSE, FIIs were netsellers at Rs 2.29 crore while the domestic institutions were net buyers at Rs 7.90 crore.

Some, bull operators were seen entering into fresh commitments despite high badla of around 21 to 24 per cent on an annualised basis in the last settlement.

On Monday, Hong Kong was down 2.98 per cent, Japan 2.45 per cent, Singapore 2.35 per cent and Malaysia 1.91 per cent.

On the BSE select shares moved in a narrow range, reducing early gains during midsession trading with scattered support. "Prices were slightly under pressure due to weak South-East Asian markets and higher carryforward charges at the turn of the settlement. On Saturday, the badla rates were at 21 per cent on an annualised basis against 12.25 per cent in the previous week. As stock markets in Hong Kong and Japan were showing weak tendency, it cautioned bull operators from enlarging their commitments on the first day of the current settlement", said Dilip Bhat, vice-president, Shailesh Merchant Brokers.

"Tokyo stock prices hit a new 12-year lowtoday as investors dumped shares amid uncertainity over the fate of legislation to review the country's ailing banking system. Hong Kong's key index plunged 3 per cent and Singapore's has fallen by 2.5 per cent. "Stock markets in Malaysia and Indonesia also reported moderate losses with the Indian bourses showing resilience. Thus, in such a scenario we might see some FIIs pledge some new funds into India again", said Chetan Shah of Asian Market Securities.

Schroder's is reported to have made a buy order at the counter of Dabur for 2 lakh shares while BFL Software was reportedly bought by the offshore fund of Canbank Mutual Fund. Infosys and HLL was reportedly sold by Canbank Mutual Fund with a lot of buying by domestic mutual funds and FIIs in the counter of Pentafour Software.

Sales were also pressed on the counter of Smithkline Pharma as the first quarter results were not upto market expectations. The scrip of Burroghs Welcome is rising on the news of an expected bonus in December.

On the other hand,the GDR market showed resilience with the Skindia GDR index based on 17 active scrips increasing by 2.43 per cent to 666.97 from its previous close of 651.17. Market players said that with higher badla rates and better market support the market started firm but reports of sharp fall in the world markets prevented the market players from taking long-term positions.