The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 127 points at 17,212. Unabated selling pressure in the market, owing to weak global cues, saw the index drift deeper into red as the day progressed.
The index touched a low of 17, 038 - down 301 points from the previous close. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 258 points at 17,081.
Out of 2,746 stocks traded today - 1,592 declined, 1,104 advanced and the rest were unchanged.
The NSE Nifty closed 54 points lower at 5,082.
INDEX SHAKERS...
ITC plunged over 5% to Rs 215, and Satyam Computers slumped 3.7% to Rs 471.
Infosys and Larsen & Toubro tumbled nearly 3.5% each to Rs 1,780 and Rs 2,886, respectively.
ICICI Bank and Reliance Energy dropped 3% each to Rs 891 and Rs 1,394, respectively.
TCS, HDFC Bank, SBI and Jaiprakash Associates slipped over 2% each to Rs 944, Rs 1,508, Rs 1,730 and Rs 269, respectively.
Tata Motors and Cipla shed 1.5% each at Rs 669 and Rs 212, respectively.
BHEL, DLF and ONGC were down over 1% each.
...AND THE MOVERS
Tata Steel surged 2.5% to Rs 846. Bharti Airtel added 1.5% to Rs 828.
ACC, Ranbaxy and Mahindra & Mahindra were the other major gainers.
MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS
Aishwarya Telecom led the value chart with a turnover of Rs 722.20 crore followed by Reliance Power (Rs 250.34 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 171.69 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 160.78 crore) and Cairn India (Rs 155.38 crore).
Aishwarya Telecom, also, topped the volume chart with trades of around 7.71 crore shares followed by IFCI (1.42 crore), Ispat Industries (1.14 crore), Kashyap Technology (87.10 lakh) and Reliance Natural Resources (83.40 lakh).
