Mumbai, June 5: The week began on a disappointing note for investors as the BSE 30-share bellwether index failed to sustain Friday’s rally and lost 238 points today. After a steady start and a rise of 101 points, the sensex crumbled under selling pressure.

Brokers are worried over the fact that while foreign investors remain sellers at higher levels, there is no significant buying when equities are under pressure. Moreover, the short-term cues are loaded against any sustained rise in share values.

While prospects of a rise in inflation and a consequent jump in interest rates have grown with the Centre hiking petrol and diesel prices, crude rates remain a source of worry. People are also concerned about the monsoon.

On the BSE today, the sensex opened at 10537.08 and shot to an intra-day high of 10552.38, a gain of 101 points over its last close.

However, with FIIs selling heavily towards noon and no buying support, the sensex dropped to a low of 10186.33 before ending the day at 10213.48, a net fall of 237.85 points or 2.28 per cent from Friday’s close of 10451.33.

The sensex had recovered by 380 points or 3.77 per cent on June 2 on hectic shortcovering by FIIs. The National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) S&P CNX nifty also tumbled by 74.70 points or 2.42 per cent to 3016.65 from its previous close of 3091.35.

“The reasons for today’s fall were many. Apart from crude prices breaching the $70-mark, FIIs are still selling. There is no buying at such levels. Moreover, there are worries over rising interest rates and the progress of monsoon to other parts of the country. The early part of tomorrow's trading will to a large extent, depend on how the overseas markets behave today'', said Dilip Davda, an analyst.

Heavyweights, which led the surge on Friday, were battered today. Mid-cap and low-cap stocks continued to remain in the selling zone. The selling was so widespread that 26 of 30 index-based counters suffered sharp losses. Reliance Industries (RIL), SBI, Infosys, HLL, ONGC and Maruti Udyog registered huge falls.