Sensex down 298pts; Tata Motors slumps 8%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 133 points at 11,072. The index touched a high of 11,143, but soon slipped into the negative zone.

A fresh round of selling dragged the index to a low of 10,576 - down 496 points from the day's high.

The index is now down 298 points at 10,640.

Out of 1,999 stocks traded so far, 1,723 have declined, 244 have advanced and 32 are unchanged.

Tata Motors has tumbled 7.5% to Rs 785. Maruti has shed 3.5% to Rs 758.

Dr.Reddy's has slumped nearly 6% to Rs 1,429. Cipla has plunged over 5% to Rs 210.

Wipro has dropped 5% to Rs 466.

While Larsen & Toubro has shed 4.8% to Rs 2,380, BHEL is down 4% at Rs 1,882.

Hindalco has declined 4.7% to Rs 180.

NTPC and Tata Power are down 3.7% each at Rs 113 and Rs 514, respectively.