Marketmen said bull operators showed little interest in creating fresh positions on account of the long week-end holidays for Diwali. ``Profit-taking by speculators and persistent selling pressure by FIIs (who were net sellers of Satyam Computers, Reliance, SBI, Telco and Tisco) pulled down the Sensex,'' said a broker.

The BSE Sensitive index dropped from the day's high of 2895.28 to touch the day's low of 2848.55 before closing at 2857.27, showing a net loss of 33.45 points from the previous close of 2890.72. The BSE-100 index also drifted lower by 12.85 points to 1277.28 from the previous close of 1290.13.

The total turnover was Rs 1135.88 crore. Among the pivotals, Satyam Computers dropped byRs 19.25 to Rs 553, ITC by Rs 10.25 to Rs 692.75, Pentafour by Rs 4 to Rs 650, SBI by Rs 6.90 to Rs 160.50 and Zee Tele by Rs 15.50 to Rs 610.75 on selling pressure.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE) share prices resumed steady and after moving in a narrow range, closed with small losses due to fresh selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs). The S&P CNX Nifty eased by 7.90 to 835.65 from the last level of 843.55. The total turnover stood at Rs 1,488.35 crore. On the NSE, 355 shares advanced, 532 shares fell and 89 shares held unchanged while 33 securities had hit their price bands.