Share prices opened on a strong note under the leadership of FMCG giant, Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), which recorded an all-time high of 2810 at the opening session on sustained buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), capitulating most of their early gains at the end on profit-taking by FIs to close at 2750 from yesterday's close of 2720.

The BSE Sensitive index resumed higher at 4751.98 and improved further to a high of 4769.34. But later moved downwards on profit-taking to the day's low of 4663.12 before closing at 4672.12 from yesterday's close of 4728.78, registering a loss of 56.66 points or 1.20 per cent. The BSE-100 index also dropped by 21.64 points to 2025.51 as against the previous close of 2047.15.

During the current week, local institutions and mutual funds hadreportedly sold shares worth about Rs 450-500 crore including today's sales in shares of TISCO, TELCO, MTNL, RIL, SBI and others, market sources said. While FIIs presence was negligible, they sold high-priced pharmaceutical shares in small lots, dealers said.