Sensex drops 62pts; HLL crashes 5%

The Sensex slipped sharply towars the closing bell to finish the day with a loss of 62 points (0.93%) at 6,608.

Heavyweights finished with sharp declines today. HLL crashed over 5% (Rs 8) to Rs 144. ONGC slipped 2% (Rs 15) to Rs 805. ITC was down more than a per cent (Rs 14) at Rs 1,300. Reliance was down Rs 4 at Rs 535. SBI, however, was marginally (Rs 2) higher at Rs 664.

Maruti dropped nearly 4% (Rs 19) to Rs 471. Tata Motors slipped 3% (Rs 15) to Rs 492. Bajaj declined nearly 2% (Rs 21) to Rs 1,046.

ACC dropped more than a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 369. Gujarat Ambuja and Grasim also declined more than a per cent each to Rs 443 and Rs 1,361, respectively.

Reliance Energy lost over 2% (Rs 12) to Rs 553. Satyam was down 2% (Rs 10) to Rs 406. Bharti, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Dr. Reddy's and Ranbaxy also closed on a weak note today.

BHEL was firm right through the session, and closed with a gain of close to a per cent (Rs 8) at Rs 859. Hindalco was up a per cent (Rs 15) at Rs 1,385. L&T was also up a per cent (Rs 10) at Rs 1,013. Tisco was up Rs 5 at Rs 406.