Sensex down 262pts; breadth marginally -ve

The Sensex is now down 262 points at 15,383.

The NSE Nifty is down 76 points at 4,659.

BHEL has slumped 7.6% to Rs 1,900. Larsen & Toubro has tumbled 5.3% to Rs 2,865.

Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra and Wipro have plunged 4.7% each to Rs 660, Rs 663 and Rs 406, respectively.

ICICI Bank has dropped 4.3% to Rs 737. HDFC and Bharti Airtel have slipped over 3% each to Rs 2,309 and Rs 801, respectively.

DLF and NTPC have shed 2.7% each at Rs 629 and Rs 192, respectively.

HDFC Bank, Jaiprakash Associates and Maruti are down over 2% each at Rs 1,292, Rs 222 and Rs 813, respectively.

Hindustan Unilever is up 1% at Rs 231.

The market breadth is marginally negaitive - out of 2,454 stocks traded so far, 1,234 have declined, 1,169 have advanced and 51 are unchanged.