The Sensex eased in mid-morning trades, after opening three points higher at 6,733 and subsequently inching up to an early high of 6,757.While steady selling pressure dragged the index below the 6,700 mark by late morning trades, the market plunged deep into the red towards the fag-end following sharp correction across the board.The Sensex, which tumbled to an intra-day low of 6,647, finally ended 74 points lower at 6,656. The Nifty, too, shed ground and lost 23 points to 2,065.While only five Sensex stocks advanced, 25 declined today. Advancing shares registered a small volume of 5 lakh amounting to Rs 23.43 crore, and declining shares accounted for a volume of 89 lakh for Rs 454.97 crore.The breadth of the market was weak. Of 2,045 scrips traded on the BSE - 1,081 declined, 909 advanced and 55 stocks remained unchanged.Reliance, with volumes of over 14.12 lakh, dropped nearly 2% (Rs 11) to Rs 530. ITC slumped 1.95% (Rs 31) to Rs 1,560. While ONGC slipped a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 924, HLL was down 1.47% (Rs 2) at Rs 147, after a sharp rise yesterday. The counter clocked a volume of over 13.19 lakh.Wipro dropped 1.42% (Rs 10) to Rs 701. Infosys and Satyam declined a per cent each to Rs 2,201 (down Rs 20) and Rs 451 (down Rs 4), respectively.ICICI Bank slipped 1.59% (Rs 6) to Rs 392, while SBI lost a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 655. HDFC Bank, however, was up a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 539.Hindalco at Rs 1,079 (down Rs 34 or 3%), BHEL at Rs 867 (down Rs 16 or 1.77%), Reliance Energy at Rs 513 (down Rs 14 or 2.62%), Tisco at Rs 349 (down Rs 8 or 2.15%) and Tata Power at Rs 372 (down Rs 5 or 1.23%) came under relentless selling pressure. L&T, however, rose 3.28% (Rs 34) to Rs 1,084.ACC lost 1.90% (Rs 7) to Rs 372, and Grasim declined 1.20% (Rs 13) to Rs 1,111. Gujarat Ambuja was down a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 448.Maruti declined 2.13% (Rs 10) to Rs 451, and Tata Motors was down Rs 2 at Rs 437. Bajaj, however, clocked a per cent gain (Rs 8) to Rs 1,264.Ranbaxy tumbled 2.71% (Rs 30) to Rs 1,084. While Cipla slipped a per cent (Rs 3) to Rs 290, Dr. Reddy's ended with steady gains at Rs 736.Metal stocks continued with their slump. Mukand dropped 6.86% (Rs 5) to Rs 66. While Bhushan Steel lost 6.45% (Rs 12) to Rs 178, Southern Iron & Steel dipped 6.33% to Rs 21. Monnet Ispat, Lloyd Steel, Sun Iron & Steel, Ispat, Uttam Galva and Vesuvius dipped between 3-5%.Select banking stocks, too, ended weak. UTI Bank lost 4.21% (Rs 10) to Rs 228, while Kotak Bank declined 3.58% (Rs 14) to Rs 385. BoB slipped 2% (Rs 4) to Rs 190.Pharma stocks, however, ended with impressive gains. Neuland Lab soared 8% (Rs 12) to Rs 155, with Lupin gaining 6.16% (Rs 38) to close at Rs 652. While Unichem Lab jumped 5.79% (Rs 12) to Rs 218, Strides Acrolab moved up 4.45% (Rs 13) to Rs 297. Nicholas Piramal, Wyeth, Matrix Labs, Novartis and Natco Pharma ended 2-4% higher.BSE Metal index, which represent the metal scrips, lost heavily and declined 2.26% (down 124 pts to 5,354), followed by BSE FMCG index (down 1.34% to 1,201), BSE Oil & Gas index (down 1.22% to 3,084) and BSE IT index (down 1.11% to 2,689), respectively.
