The BSE sensitive index (Sensex) opened moderately up at 4571.36 but later dropped to the day's low of 4491.84 before closing at 4494.18 with a net loss of 48.16 points compared to last Friday's close of 4542.34. The BSE-100 index dropped by 17.60 points to 1970.46 from the previous close of 1988.06.

Brokers said the sentiment was affected due to selling pressure by domestic institutions and local operators in view of end-account considerations on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday. However, foreign investors who recently slowed down their purchases, were reportedly net buyers in some software scrips like Satyam Computers, Infosys Technologies, Pentafour Software and NIIT besides Wockhardt, TVS Suzuki, BPL and Zee Telefilms.

Satyam Computer remained the top traded scrip with the highest turnover of Rs 375.32 crore of the total volume ofbusiness of Rs 1999.30 crore. Satyam shot up by Rs 85.85 to Rs 1765.85. Pentafour gained by Rs 19 to Rs 1262, Ranbaxy by Rs 6.20 to Rs 891.20, Infosys Tech by Rs 233.55 to Rs 5063.55, Zee Telefilms by Rs 46.50 to Rs 2178.50 and ITC by Rs 11 to Rs 1003.10. Hindustan Lever, however, eased by Rs 18 to Rs 2713, Reliance by Rs 1.70 to Rs 176.20, SBI by Rs 6.30 to Rs 239.20, Telco by Rs 9.40 to Rs 230.50 and Tisco by Rs 3.10 to Rs 134 on selling pressure.

Meanwhile share prices declined further on NSE on increased selling pressure from both FIIs and domestic funds. The market opened weak and prices continued to come down during the session and Nifty dropped by 20 points. Mirroring the trend, the S&P CNX Nifty opened at 1309.85 and declined further steeply to end at 1289.60, showing a sharp fall of 20.55 over the last close of 1310.15.