Sensex drops 500pts to 11,718

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 54 points at 12,164. A fresh round of selling in the late morning deals saw the index slide to a low of 11,618 - down 600 points from the previous close.

The index is now down 500 points at 11,718.

Hindalco has plunged 8.5% to Rs 200. Tata Steel has tumbled over 6% to Rs 574.

Tata Motors and Maruti have dropped 6.4% each to Rs 901 and Rs 853, respectively.

ACC and Gujarat Ambuja have shed over 6% each to Rs 853 and Rs 103, respectively. Grasim has dropped 5% at Rs 2,065.

Larsen & Toubro and BHEL have slumped 5% each to Rs 2,558 and Rs 2,210, respectively.

Reliance and ONGC have dropped over 4.5% each to Rs 1,037 and Rs 1,377, respectively. ITC is down 4% at Rs 197.

Out of 2,465 stocks traded so far, 2,068 have declined, 368 have advanced and 29 are unchanged.

Reliance tops the value chart with a turnover of Rs 182.70 crore followed by Tata Steel (Rs 126.31 crore), SBI (Rs 84.63 crore), Bombay Dyeing (Rs 79.18 crore) and Mahindra Gesco (Rs 78.30 crore).

G V Films leads the volume chart with trades of around 1 crore shares followed by Reliance Petro (46.28 lakh), IFCI (43 lakh), SAIL (40.32 lakh) and Dewan Housing Finance (35 lakh).