Sensex down 296pts; Cipla soars 4%

The Sensex is now down 296 points at 17,439.

The NSE Nifty is down 68 points at 5,124.

Bajaj Auto has plunged 4% to Rs 2,313. Satyam and Mahindra & Mahindra have tumbled 3.5% each to Rs 442 and Rs 619, respectively.

TCS and HDFC have dropped nearly 3% each to Rs 892 and Rs 2,575, respectively.

ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have shed 2.5% each at Rs 1,114 and Rs 1,505, respectively.

Infosys, SBI and Reliance Energy have slipped over 2% each to Rs 1,593, Rs 2,130 and Rs 1,561, respectively.

Reliance and Bharti Airtel have also declined 2% each to Rs 2,449 and Rs 851, respectively.

Cipla has soard over 4% to Rs 196. Hindalco has gained 1.5% at Rs 192.

The market breadth is fairly negative - out of 2,574 stocks traded so far, 1,577 have declined, 916 have advanced and the rest are unchanged.