Sensex down 67pts; cement stocks crumble

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 34 points at 12,401. The index soon plunged to a low of 12,224 - down 211 points from its previous close.

The index is now down 67 points at 12,368.

Cement stocks have posted huge losses following reports that price controls would be introduced from Monday. Gujarat Ambuja has slumped 6% to Rs 108. ACC has plunged 5.3% to Rs 914, and Grasim has dropped 3.3% to Rs 2,228.

ICICI Bank has declined 2.6% to Rs 643. SBI has slipped 1.2% to Rs 965.

Reliance has plunged 2.5% to Rs 1,081. ONGC has dropped 1.8% to Rs 1,432.

Larsen & Toubro has surged 2.5% to Rs 2,846. NTPC has added 1.3% to Rs 131.

Tata Motors has rallied nearly 2% to Rs 972. Tata Steel has gained 1.8% at Rs 650, and Hindalco is up 1% at Rs 246.

Out of 2,555 stocks traded so far, 1,349 have declined, 1,147 have advanced and 59 are unchanged.

Reliance continues to top the value chart with a turnover of Rs 190.83 crore followed by Reliance Petro (Rs 108.90 crore), ACC (Rs 94.82 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 92.63 crore) and Reliance Communication Ventures (Rs 68.82 crore).

Reliance Petro continues to lead the volume chart with trades of around 1.27 crore shares followed by Lloyd Steel (83.11 lakh), IFCI (78.60 lakh), Kamdhenu Ispat (72.28 lakh) and G V Films (34.33 lakh).