Sensex down 869pts; breadth extremely -ve

The Sensex is now down 869 points at 17,493.

The NSE Nifty is down 297 points at 5,087.

SBI has slumped nearly 8% to Rs 2,216. Reliance Communications has plunged over 7% to Rs 621.

Infosys has tumbled 6.5% to Rs 1,423. Bharti Airtel and DLF have shed dropped nearly 6% each to Rs 861 and Rs 890, respectively.

Hindustan Unilever, TCS and ONGC have shed around 5.5% each to Rs 188, Rs 834 and Rs 960, respectively.

Reliance, HDFC Bank and NTPC have slipped 5.3% each to Rs 2,470, Rs 1,517 and Rs 211, respectively.

Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel and Grasim have declined around 5% each to Rs 3,698, Rs 641, Rs 679 and Rs 2,886, respectively.

Wipro, Bajaj Auto and BHEL are down around 4.5% each at Rs 409, Rs 2,160 and Rs 2,069, respectively.

The market breadth is extremely negative - out of 2,478 stocks traded so far, 2,079 have declined, 367 have advanced and 32 are unchanged.