Sensex down 622pts; breadth extremely -ve

The Sensex is now down 622 points at 16,955.

The NSE Nifty is down 193 points at 5,030.

HDFC has tumbled nearly 8% to Rs 2,582, and BHEL has slumped 7.3% to Rs 2,115.

ICICI Bank has plunged nearly 6% to Rs 1,027. DLF and SBI have shed 5.5% each at Rs 737 and Rs 1,993, respectively.

NTPC and Reliance have dropped nearly 5% each to Rs 192 and Rs 2,344, respectively. Bharti Airtel has slipped 4% to Rs 792.

Larsen & Toubro, ITC and Reliance Communications have slipped nearly 4% each to Rs 3,388, Rs 195 and Rs 553, respectively.

Maruti has soared 4.4% to Rs 905. Ranbaxy has surged 3.7% to Rs 462, and Cipla have gained 2.8% at Rs 213.

Hindustan Unilever has rallied 3.5% to Rs 235. Satyam has added 1.6% to Rs 441.

The market breadth is extremely negative - out of 2,682 stocks traded so far, 2,161 have declined, 478 have advanced and 43 are unchanged.