The Sensex opened on a flat note at 6,283, and quickly gained four points to touch an intra-day high of 6,288. Selling commenced soon after, and there was let-up in selling pressure right through the day. After slipping below the 6,200-mark in early noon trades, relentless selling pressure across-the-board dragged the index to a low of 6,138 - down 146 points over its previous close.The Sensex finally signed off the session with a huge drop of 130 points (2%) at 6,154.Reliance plunged 2.75% (Rs 15) to Rs 528. ONGC shed 2.88% (Rs 24) to Rs 811. HLL, on worse-than-expected 15% decline in Q1 net, dropped nearly 4% (Rs 6) to Rs 138. ITC recovered marginally from its lows to end down a per cent (Rs 14) at Rs 1,437.ICICI Bank declined nearly 4% (Rs 15) to Rs 360. While SBI lost 3% (Rs 19) to Rs 585, HDFC Bank, however, ended up a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 540.Satyam tumbled 4.54% (Rs 19) to Rs 399, and Wipro was down 1.17% (Rs 7) at Rs 632. Infosys, after a mixed outing, slipped a per cent (Rs 17) to Rs 1,887.Tata Motors crashed 4% (Rs 17) to Rs 412. While Hero Honda slumped 3.35% (Rs 17) to Rs 502, Maruti lost 2% (Rs 9) to Rs 406.Hindalco at Rs 1,186 (down Rs 52 or 4.20%), HDFC at Rs 731 (down Rs 18 or 2.40%) and HPCL at Rs 303 (down Rs 15 or 4.79%) were battered today. Tisco and Tata Power were down a per cent each at Rs 341 and Rs 347, respectively. Zee, however, was up 1.35% (Rs 2) at Rs 131.Grasim crashed 4.36% (Rs 53) to Rs 1,150. ACC and Gujarat Ambuja also ended in the red.Dr. Reddy's slipped 2% (Rs 12) to Rs 637. While Ranbaxy also ended weak at Rs 913 (down Rs 5), Cipla moved up 2.29% (Rs 6) to Rs 264.The BSE Bankex dropped nearly 3% (104 points) to 3,504. The BSE Metal index was down 2% at 5,505. All the other sectoral indices also closed with steep declines today.The bear hug was unshakable today - out of 2,420 scrips traded, 1,766 declined, 588 advanced and 66 were unchanged today.Bank scrips continued to be dumped for the second straight day. Syndicate Bank plunged 7% to Rs 48. Union Bank dropped 6% to Rs 97. BoI, which reported a 66% decline in FY05 net, was down 5% at Rs 82. Andhra Bank, BoB, PNB, Corporation Bank, Federal Bank and Centurion Bank also declined.Tata Steel was the most active counter with a turnover of over Rs 118 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 96 crore) and Gokaldas Exports (Rs 91 crore).
