The Sensex today opened in the red at 12,093, down 24 points. The index swung between zones till noon wherein it touched a high of 12,180. The index then broke down owing to rise in inflation and profit taking at higher levels. Uncertainity over the election results also weighed on the market sentiments.
The index touched a low of 11,765, down 415 points from the day's high.
The Sensex finally ended down 241 points at 11,876. The Nifty was down 63 points at 3,621.
The BSE Metal index plunged 2.5% to 7,950. IT index slipped 2% to 2,725, and the Bankex shed over 3% to 6,007.
The market breadth was neutral. Out of 2,623 stocks traded, 1,266 declined while 1,266 advanced. The rest were unchanged.
SENSEX SHAKERS...
Wipro slumped 7% to Rs 355. ICICI Bank, Sterlite and Reliance Infrastructure plunged 5% each to Rs 521, Rs 492 and Rs 769, respectively.
Mahindra & Mahindra , HDFC, Reliance Communications and Tata Steel shed 4% each at Rs 494, Rs 1,740, Rs 230 and Rs 283, respectively.
ACC, BHEL and SBI dropped over 3% each.
HDFC Bank, Hindalco, Infosys, DLF, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC, Tata Power, Reliance, ITC and ONGC declined 1-3% each.
...AND MOVERS
Jaiprakash Associates gained 2.5% at Rs 142. Hindustan Unilever advanced 1% to Rs 233.
OTHER PROMINENT LOSERS
United Spirits tumbled nearly 7% to Rs 667. Jain Irrigation Systems plunged 5.5% to Rs 490.
United Phosphorus, Glenmark Pharma, RECL, Godrej Industries, Ambuja Cement, Jindal Steel, Tulip Telecom, JSW Steel, Adani Enterprises, Zee Entertainment, IVRCL Infrastructure and Cadila Healthcare declined 4-5% each.
AND THE GAINERS
Bhushan Steel zoomed 14% to Rs 683. GMDC soared 10% to Rs 71. Neyveli Lignite Corporation surged 9% to Rs 103.
Hindustan Copper, Aban Offshore, Videocon Industries, Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren, GTL Infrastructure, UCO Bank, Jai Corp, Indiabulls and Shriram Transport Finance Company advanced 4-7% each.
MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS
HDFC Bank topped the value chart with a turnover of over Rs 1,524.22 crore. It was followed by Reliance (Rs 203.46 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 186.57 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 177.99 crore), and HDIL (Rs 166.25 crore).
Ispat Industries led the volume chart with 30.79 million shares traded on the BSE. It was followed by Reliance Natural Resources (14.39 million), Suzlon (13.68 million), HDFC Bank (13.67million) and Unitech (11.54 million).