Sensex down 188pts; breadth very -ve

The Sensex has slipped back into the negative zone and is now down 188 points at 17,339.

The NSE Nifty is down 50 points at 5,083.

DLF has plunged 4.4% to Rs 808. Larsen & Toubro has tumbled over 3% to Rs 3,517.

HDFC and HDFC Bank have dropped 2.7% each to Rs 2,851 and Rs 1,450, respectively.

Bajaj Auto has slipped 2.4% to Rs 2,225. Tata Steel and Mahindra & Mahindra have declined nearly 2% each to Rs 756 and Rs 646, respectively.

NTPC, Reliance Energy and ICICI Bank have shed around 1.5% each at Rs 203, Rs 1,959 and Rs 1,090, respectively.

Hindalco and BHEL are down 1.3% each at Rs 161 and Rs 1,995, respectively.

Infosys has zoomed over 5% to Rs 1,560. TCS has surged 3.7% to Rs 916. Satyam has rallied 3.5% to Rs 405, and Wipro has gained 2.2% at Rs 419.

ITC and Ranbaxy are up over 1% each at Rs 195 and Rs 379, respectively.

The market breadth is significantly negative - out of 2,601 stocks traded so far, 2,016 have declined, 553 have advanced and 32 are unchanged.