Even though the Lok Sabha passed the Union budget, players, including domestic and foreign institutions, refused to support the market. With the prospects of an alternative government looking dim, activity on the markets remained dull. After three days of wait-and-watch, market players lost all hopes. Instead, fears of a possible mid-term polls unnerved many players. The result, domestic and foreign institutions remained on the sidelines.

``The passing of the union budget and the Reliance results hardly had any impact on the market sentiment. These were expected. We are now worried about the new government. A mid-term poll looks inevitable,'' said a broker who sees uncertaintygripping the market in the next few days. ``The picture is not clear at all. The new formation that is being attempted is far more fragile than the earlier one,'' said another broker.

The BSE opened steady on Thursday morning in anticipation of passing of the budget. Punters made some purchases in select counters. The BSE Sensex which opened steady at 3463.07 touched a high of 3516.31 as operators built further positions. However, as the news of passing of the budget trickled in the trend reversed, and the Sensex declined to touch a low of 3393.48 before recovering marginally.

Hindustan Lever moved up from Rs 2165 to 2240, but fell later. ITC and State Bank of India saw a similar trend. Reliance Industries opened at Rs 130.30 and rose to a high of Rs 132.40. It closed at Rs 125.50 around its day's low of Rs 124. Brokers said the results were on expected lines.

The movement in software counters were in a narrow range as they declined towards the mid-session. Satyam Computer and Pentafour Softwarecounters declined towards the mid-session, while Infosys Technologies was relatively steady. The selling pressure was pronounced in the second-rung software stocks. Software Solutions hit the lower limit of the circuit breaker on the BSE at Rs 747.75.

Aluminium stocks continued to remain firm, thanks to the rising trend in aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME). Hindalco (Rs 594.50) and Indal (Rs 63.85) hit the upper limits of the circuit breaker before declining slightly towards the mid-session. A similar trend was seen in counters like Siemens and Mahindra & Mahindra which hit the upper limits of the circuit breaker at Rs 212.40 and Rs 262.70 respectively.

Pharmaceutical and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) shares also declined after initial strength. Counters like Cipla, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Novartis and E Merck were firm. Profit-booking continued in the refinery counters. Among others, ABB, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Vikas WSP and BHEL improved while others like Grasim, BSES, MTNL,Philips, Punjab Tractors, Zee Telefilms, Finolex Cables, Tata Tea, Cummins India and Larsen & Toubro were weak.