Sensex down 602pts; tech stocks drag

The Sensex is now down 602 points at 18,061.

The NSE Nifty is down 188 points at 5,295.

All index stocks are still in negative zone with losses in excess of 1% each.

Wipro has slumped 6% to Rs 427, and Infosys has tumbled 5.7% to Rs 1,519. Satyam has crashed 5.4% to Rs 415, and TCS has shed 4.4% at Rs 908.

Bharti Airtel has plunged nearly 5% to Rs 890. Hindalco has dropped 4.4% to Rs 174.

Ranbaxy has slipped over 4% to Rs 371. Maruti, Tata Motors and DLF have declined 3.7% each to Rs 840, Rs 728 and Rs 858, respectively.

ONGC, Tata Steel, Reliance and Reliance Energy are down over 3% each at Rs 1,040, Rs 792, Rs 2,535 and Rs 1,964, respectively.

Out of 2,604 stocks traded so far, 1,594 have declined, 968 have advanced and 42 are unchanged.