Sensex down 433pts; breadth fairly -ve

The Sensex is now down 433 points at 17,643.

The NSE Nifty is down 137 points at 5,144.

BHEL and Tata Motors have tumbled 4% each to Rs 2,135 and Rs 709, respectively.

Hindustan Unilever, NTPC and Reliance Communications have plunged nearly 4% each to Rs 213, Rs 197 and Rs 584, respectively.

HDFC and ICICI Bank have dropped over 3% each to Rs 2,765 and Rs 1,179, respectively.

Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel and DLF have shed 3% each at Rs 3,448, Rs 862 and Rs 818, respectively.

Tata Steel, ITC and HDFC Bank have slipped nearly 3% each to Rs 789, Rs 200 and Rs 1,525, respectively.

SBI has shed 2.5% at Rs 2,209. Reliance, Maruti and ONGC are down 2.3% each at Rs 2,495, Rs 789 and Rs 991, respectively.

Satyam has gained 2.5% at Rs 432.

The market breadth is extremely negative with losers beating gainers in the ratio of 3:1 - out of 2,549 stocks traded so far, 1,870 have declined, 622 have advanced and the rest are unchanged.