The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 146 points at 9,902. Aggressive profit-taking in banking, metal and realty stocks saw the index slip lower as the day progressed.
Also considerable weakness in global markets, on possibility of GM filing for bankruptcy, weighed on the market sentiment. Asian peers like Hang Seng, Nikkei, Taiwan, Straits Times and Seoul dropped 3-5% each.
The Sensex touched a low of 9,521, and finally ended with a loss of 480 points (4.8%) at 9,568. The index had gained 12% (1,081 points) last week, and was up nearly 25% (2,001 points) from its recent low of 8,047 touched on March 6.
The BSE Bankex plummeted 8.6% (415 points) to 4,414. The Metal and Realty indexes plunged over 7% each to 5,658 and 1,516, respectively.
The market breadth was negative - out of 2,473 stocks traded, 1,471 declined, 904 advanced and 98 were unchanged today.
INDEX SHAKERS...
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Jaiprakash Associates, ICICI Bank and Tata Steel slumped over 12% each to Rs 79, Rs 338 and Rs 196, respectively.
Reliance Infrastructure tumbled 11.5% to Rs 502. DLF, SBI and TCS plunged over 9% each to Rs 166, Rs 1,022 and Rs 523, respectively.
Hindalco, Tata Motors, HDFC and Reliance Communications dropped nearly 9% each to Rs 50, Rs 172, Rs 1,451 and Rs 168, respectively.
Sterlite shed over 6% to Rs 351. HDFC Bank, BHEL and Wipro slipped around 5% each to Rs 945, Rs 1,474 and Rs 241, respectively.
Grasim and Larsen & Toubro declined around 4.5% each to Rs 1,534 and Rs 651, respectively.
ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ranbaxy and Infosys were the other major losers.
OTHER PROMINENT LOSERS...
Kotak Bank slumped over 11% to Rs 302. IVRCL Infrastructure, Reliance Natural Resources, Welspun Guj, Hindustan Copper, India Infoline, Punjab Nationa Bank, Yes Bank, Aban Offshore, Bajaj Holdings, SAIL and Suzlon plunged 9-10% each.
...AND THE GAINERS
Opto Circuits zoomed over 13% to Rs 96. Moser Baer, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer, Lupin, KSK Energy, Glenmark Pharma, Cadila Healthcare, Chambal Fertilisers, Thermax and Godrej Consumers rallied 5-8% each.
VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS
Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 354.60 crore followed by ICICI Bank (Rs 229.17 crore), Aban Offshore (Rs 131.88 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 131.50 crore) and Reliance Infrastructure (Rs 126.66 crore).
Cals Refineries led the volume chart with trades of around 1.64 crore shares followed by Reliance Natural Resources (1.32 crore), Unitech (1.22 crore), S Kumars (98.66 lakh) and Suzlon (79.07 lakh).