Foreign fund presence remained minimal as most them stayed away on extended Easter holiday. However, local institutions provided selective support. The closing rates showed widespread small to modest losses. The volume of business dropped.

Brokers said that further fall was due to continued selling pressure from operators and lack of support from foreign funds despite announcement of overall good export-import policy for 1997-2002. Disappointed by the higher thanexpected badla rates at the turn of the account, operators pressed fresh sales in line with squaring off business as the market will remain closed tomorrow on account of `Ambedkar Jayanti'.

On the NSE, pivotal prices reacted in brisk trading on the last day of the current settlement cycle. The NSE-50 index finished at 1159.45 suffering a loss of 32.95 points as against the previous close. The Midcap index settled down at 1531.05 as compared to the previous close of 1581.35. The total turnover on the exchange was Rs 1788.80 crore.