The announcement made by UTI chief to the effect that the repurchase price would be hiked, failed to enthuse the market participants who preferred to `wait & watch'.

The Tata group stocks once again were caught in the bear trap. While Telco was hammered down to a new 52-week low of Rs 112.85, Tata Chemicals was down by over 2 per at Rs 83 and Tata Power closed at Rs 84, and Tisco at a low of Rs 78.

The sharp recovery made by banking stocks on Wednesday, proved to short lived with major riders witnessing speed breakers. SBI came crashing down by 3 per cent to close at Rs 160.80, while CorporationBank, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India declined by 1.5 per cent on an average.

However, ICICI Bank continued its upward march, with the stock closing at Rs 27.95 registering a net gain of 2.75 per cent over Wednesday's close. The premium on SBI GDR also fell from a high of 21 per cent to 15.7 per cent with the GDR quoting at $ 8.97 during mid day session.

According to market sources, FIIs were reported to have sold at the counters of Ranbaxy, Nestle, NIIT and ITC. European-based funds like Pattery March was rumoured to have sold heavily at the counter of NIIT. However, White George and GE Pension fund were rumoured to have bought stocks like Castrol and Zee Telefilms.

NIIT recorded erratic price movements, to trade in the band of Rs 1,248 and Rs 1,309, the intra-day's low and high, respectively, to finally close at Rs 1,221. According to market sources, FIIs sold huge chunks of NIIT at Rs 1,300 levels. "The fall in the index was restricted on account of the steady movement by ITC and HLL," explained aBSE broker.