There was mixed trading pattern as selling was seen in a number of technology and telecommunication stocks and some of the Old Economy stocks also remained dull during the day in the wake of reports of slowdown in the economy.

"The mood remained depressed as the traders were not interested in building fresh position in the wake of shorter settlement cycle for the week," Vijay Bhatia, Vice-President (Institutional Sales) at Motilal Oswal Securities said.

This week the settlement will be for just three days on the BSE due to Diwali.

In addition dealers said that the selling by FIIs in some of the top counters also depressed the sentiment.

On Monday, the Sensex opened above the 3700 level and touched a high of 3716, but selling pressure at higher level pulled down the index and it finally closed at 3619.53, a drop of 73.22 points lower from the last week closing. At the NSE, S&P CNX Nifty also moved in similar trend and it closed down by 28 points at 1143.95.

On a relatively dull day, Sterlite stock was in good demand and the counter rose by 11.39 per cent at Rs 140 on the reports that the company's board would meet on October 31 to consider a buy-back and increase in the international copper prices. However, the company informed stock exchanges on the proposed board meeting only after the trading hours.

In addition, technical correction was also attributed by dealers for the rise in stock prices. Other stocks in the gainer list included Digital Equipments, Esab India, Crisil and Sun Pharma.

Technology and telecom stocks remained weak for another day. Among the index stocks Satyam Computers was down by 5.2 per cent at Rs 327, Infosys falling by 2.7 per cent at Rs 6,910. Major loser of the day included HFCL, ICICI Bank, Global Telesystem Wipro, SSI.

Bombay Dyeing, in the midst of takeover threat, stocks fell further by 3.4 per cent at Rs 116.7.

Dealers said the two big FIIs-Janus Fund and Schroeder-were believed to be heavy sellers in HFCL, Global Telesystem stocks. A huge chunck was sold by these FIIs in these counters. While in ICICI and ICICI Banking counters selling by an off-shore fund led to fall in the stock prices. Analysts are not happy with their quarterly numbers. However, in a surprise move Zee Telefilms was up by 2.56 per cent at Rs 304.65.