The Sensex opened 67 points lower at 8,326 amid negative global cues. The index drifted to lower levels owing to unabated selling in banking, FMCG, realty and techonology stocks. The index dropped to a low of 8,110 - down 216 points from the previous close.
The Sensex recovered marginally towards the close, and finally ended with a loss of 165 points (2%) at 8,160. In the process, the index continues to languish around three-year lows, and is now down 15.4% since the start of this year.
The BSE Mid-cap index slipped 1.3% to 2,553, and the Small-cap index shed 1.6% at 2,867.
The BSE Realty index tumbled over 3% to 1,304. The FMCG index and Bankex dropped 2.8% each to 1,803 and 3,633.
The market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,470 stocks traded, 1,584 declined and 798 advanced today.
Elsewhere in Asia - The Nikkei dropped 87 points to 7,086. The Hang Seng plunged 577 points to 11,345. The Shanghai Composite index shed 74 points at 2,119.
INDEX LOSERS
Jaiprakash Associates slumped 5.3% to Rs 66.
SBI, DLF and Ranbaxy tumbled around 4.5% each to Rs 897, Rs 139 and Rs 135, respectively.
Sun Pharma, Reliance Communications and ITC plunged over 4% each to Rs 980, Rs 132 and Rs 158, respectively.
TCS dropped nearly 4% to Rs 462. Hindalco, Wipro and Hindustan Unilever slipped around 3.5% each to Rs 38, Rs 206 and Rs 216, respectively.
Larsen & Toubro and Tata Steel declined around 3% each to Rs 562 and Rs 152, respectively.
INDEX GAINER
HDFC was the sole notable gainer among the index stocks. The stock surged 2.7% to Rs 1,256.
OTHER PROMINENT LOSERS: Tata Teleservices, Rolta, Jubilant Organsys, Bank of India, HDIL, Indian Bank, BPCL, UltraTech Cem, Indain Overseas Bank, CESC, JSW Steel, Sun TV, Pantaloon Retail, HPCL, Renuka Sugars, Zee Entertainment and Indian Oil down 6-16%.
MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS
Satyam topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 168.51 crore followed by ICICI Bank (Rs 132.83 crore), Reliance (Rs 131.53 crore), Akruti City (Rs 127.86 crore) and SBI (Rs 99.19 crore).
Satyam led the volume chart with trades of around 3.52 crore shares followed by Indian Overseas Bank (1.29 crore), Rolta (74.25 lakh), Cals Refineries (71.87 lakh) and Allied Computes (70.32 lakh).
