Sensex down 54pts; breadth fairly -ve

The Sensex is now down 54 points at 15,741.

Ambuja Cements has slumped 5% to Rs 128. ACC has plunged 3.7% to Rs 1,077, and Grasim has shed 2% to Rs 2,961.

Satyam has dropped 4% to Rs 497. Bajaj Auto has slipped 2.4% to Rs 2,390, and HDFC Bank has declined over 2% to Rs 1,224.

HDFC and BHEL have shed 1.7% each to Rs 1,941 and Rs 1,804,  respectively.

Mahindra & Mahindra and Larsen & Toubro are down around 1.5% each at Rs 784 and Rs 2,627, respectively.

ITC has zoomed 7.6% to Rs 164. NTPC and Reliance Energy have soared 2.7% each to Rs 168 and Rs 797, respectively.

Hindustan Unilever and ONGC have gained around 1.5% each at Rs 203 and Rs 928, respectively.

The market breadth is fairly negative - out of 2,138 stocks traded so far, 1,322 have declined, 748 have advanced and 68 are unchanged.