Sensex down 550pts; Bharti drops 6%

The Sensex is now down 550 points at 14,451.

All index stocks continue to languish in the negative zone.

Tata Steel has slumped 7.4% to Rs 594. Bharti Airtel has plunged 5.8% to Rs 808.

ICICI Bank has tumbled 5% to Rs 833. SBI, BHEL, Reliance Communications and Reliance have dropped around 4.5% each to Rs 1,540, Rs 1,610, Rs 501 and Rs 1,752, respectively.

HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro and ONGC have shed around 4% each to Rs 1,101, Rs 2,326 and Rs 821, respectively.

Grasim, Reliance Energy and Hindalco have slipped 3.7% each to Rs 2,772, Rs 726 and Rs 148, respectively.

Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Ranbaxy, Maruti, Cipla, TCS and Mahindra & Mahindra have declined over 3% each.

Out of 2,579 stocks traded so far, 1,635 have declined, 894 have advanced and 50 are unchanged.