After opening 73 points higher at 8,768, and touching a high of 8,828, the Sensex slipped into red to a low of 8,659. The index is now almost flat at 8,686 - down 10 points.
Sterlite has surged 4.5% to Rs 214. Wipro, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank have gained around 2.5% each to Rs 235, Rs 856 and Rs 328, respectively.
Bharti Airtel has advanced nearly 2% to Rs 638, and ONGC has added 1.5% to Rs 697.
Tata Motors and Reliance are up over 1% each at Rs 137 and Rs 1,084, respectively.
Reliance Communications (RCom) has plunged 3.7% to Rs 188.
Maruti, Hindalco, Mahindra & Mahindra and Infosys have dropped around 3% each to Rs 518, Rs 50, Rs 268 and Rs 1,147, respectively.
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Tata Steel, Jaiprakash Associates and Tata Power have slipped around 2% each to Rs 148, Rs 54 and Rs 639, respectively.
The market breadth is extremely negative - out of 1,811 stocks traded so far, 1,161 have declined, 589 have advanced and the rest are unchanged.