Sensex down 246pts; Rel Comm zooms 5%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 33 points at 18,032, but soon slipped into the negative zone to a low of 17,544. The index is now down 246 points at 17,753.

Reliance Communications has zoomed nearly 5% to Rs 746.

Wipro, TCS and HDFC Bank have rallied over 2% each to Rs 508, Rs 1,144 and Rs 1,406, respectively.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Satyam and ICICI Bank have advanced over 1% each to Rs 772, Rs 3,187, Rs 468 and Rs 1,051, respectively.

Bharti Airtel and BHEL have tumbled around 4% each to Rs 978 and Rs 2,100, respectively.

Ambuja Cements, Hindalco, Maruti and Reliance Energy have slipped over 2% each to Rs 142, Rs 183, Rs 1,125 and Rs 1,559, respectively.

Reliance and IC have dropped 1.7% each to Rs 2,530 and Rs 180, respectively.

HDFC has slipped over 1% to Rs 2,420.