Sensex tumbles over 500pts

The Sensex finally ended (provisional) at 16,242, down 538 points. The Nifty shed 171 points at 4,837.
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(Updated at 1533 hrs)

The markets are consolidating at lower levels. The Sensex is now down 409 points at 16,371. The Nifty is down 133 points at 4,875.
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(Updated at 1422 hrs)

The markets are witnessing a minor pull back. The Sensex after touching a low of 16,322, has recovered a wee bit and is now down 332 points at 16,448. The NSE Nifty has recovered from its low of 4,856, and is now at 4,900, down 107 points.
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(Updated at 1355 hrs)

Relentless selling in rate sensitive sectors like auto, banking and realty has led the markets to lower levels as the day progressed. The Sensex is now down 438 points at 16,341, and the NSE Nifty is down 145 points at 4,863.

The BSE Realty index has plunged a whopping 6.3% at 3,418. The Auto index and Bankex have shed nearly 4% each at 6,965 and 9,343, respectively. The Metal index too has slumped 4.5% at 16,288.

The market breadth too is extremely bearish - out of 2,868 stocks traded so far on the BSE, 2,445 have declined and just 385 have advanced.

Among the index stocks - Tata Steel has plunged over 6% to Rs 572, and DLF has tumbled nearly 6% to Rs 324.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindalco, Wipro and Tata Motors have dropped around 5.5% each. SBI too has dropped over 5% to Rs 1,984.

ICICI Bank, Hero Honda and Maruti have slipped around 4% each.

ITC and Tata Power are the only two stocks to buck the trend.