The BSE Sensex lost a further 240 points to close at 9,329, thus sliding for the fourth consecutive session. The weekly sensex loss was taken to 771 points or 7.6% by the Friday's fall. Due to the day's slide, the investor's lost up to Rs 53, 000 crores with BSE market capitalization now at Rs 30.1 lakh crore.

It has also been learnt that the advance tax collections for the quarter were 22% less on a yearly basis. According to the market players, the government's announcement that advance tax collections were lower pointed to lower profitability for the corporates and hence the slide in the market.

However, there was positive news too, which was that the annual rate of inflation dropped further to 6.61%, in the midst of bearish sentiment.

Dealers reported, "The day's slide was led by IT, real estate, consumer durables and banks. Monday's market could see continuation of the current trend of cautious trading with a downward bias."

I Reliance Infra lost over 6% to close at Rs 542; with DLF, down 6% at Rs 276; Infosys lost 5.3% at Rs 1,110 and ICICI Bank ended 5.2% downat Rs 418. co Of the 30 sensex stocks, 25 ended with a loss compared to five which ended higher.