After opening with a positive gap of 73 points at 15,577, the index could barely a tad higher to touch a high of 15,580. Profit-taking at higher levels saw the index soon slip into the negative zone.
Significant weakness in banking, metal and technology stocks saw the index slide to a low of 15,125 - down 455 points from the day's high. The Sensex recouped some losses but eventually ended with a loss of 292 points at 15,212.
The BSE Bankex and the Metal index dropped around 3.5% each to 7,437 and 12,661, respectively. The IT index slipped nearly 3% to 3,772.
The market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,729 stocks traded, 1,556 declined and 1,100 advanced today.
The NSE Nifty shed 68 points to settle at 4,552.
INDEX SHAKERS...
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Tata Steel slumped 5.7% to Rs 608. Maruti tumbled over 5% to Rs 678.
Jaiprakash Associates and Sterlite shed 4.5% each at Rs 189 and Rs 597, respectively.
ICICI Bank, HDFC and Infosys dropped around 4% each to Rs 738, Rs 2,467 and Rs 1,604, respectively.
Tata Power and HDFC Bank slipped around 3.5% each to Rs 1,037 and Rs 1,264, respectively.
Bharti Airtel and Tata Motors declined around 2.5% each to Rs 823 and Rs 436, respectively.
SBI, Wipro, Ranbaxy, Satyam and TCS were down around 2% each.
...AND THE MOVERS
ITC advanced over 1% to Rs 195.
Grasim, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance and Hindustan Unilever were the other gainers today.
MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS
Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 296.50 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 252.35 crore), Infosys (Rs 185.80 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 176.15 crore) and Larsen & Toubro (Rs 166.60 crore).
Landmark Projects led the volume chart with trades of around 2.54 crore shares followed by Reliance Natural Resources (1.71 crore), Chambal Fertilisers (1.61 crore), Nagarjuna Fertilisers (1.20 crore) and Kashyap Technologies (93.15 lakh).