Sensex drops 238pts; ACC, Hindalco lead fall

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 86 points at 10,537. The index soon touched a high of 10,552, but then slipped into the negative zone. The index swung in and out of the positive zone for a major part of the trading day.

Unabated selling in the last session saw the index tumble to a low of 10,186 - down 366 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 238 points at 10,213.

The BSE Metal index plunged 3.7% to 8,257. The Oil & Gas index dropped 2.9% to 4,935, and the FMCG index slipped 2.7% to 1,845.

The market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,467 stocks traded so far, 1,721 declined, 698 advanced and 48 were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

ACC dropped 5.5% to Rs 743. Hindalco slipped 5% to Rs 171.

Tata Steel shed 4.5% to Rs 494. Satyam and Maruti declined over 4% each to Rs 640 and Rs 738, respectively.

Ranbaxy plunged nearly 4% to Rs 411. Grasim, Bharti Airtel and HLL were down around 3.5% each at Rs 1,737, Rs 353 and Rs 234, respectively.

Reliance dropped 3.3% to Rs 926. HDFC Bank and Gujarat Ambuja declined over 3% each to Rs 740 and Rs 90, respectively.

Larsen & Toubro rallied 3.3% to Rs 2,263, and HDFC added 2% to Rs 1,199.