Sensex drops 94 pts at close

After the Friday's blood-bath at Dalal Street, the Sensex today opened 27 points lower over its last close at 6,221. The index lost another 118 points in a quick succession and touched an intra-day low of 6,118 as stocks got battered on the back of relentless selling pressure.

After moving in a range of 85-95 points loss in the first half, the market in mid-noon trades curbed its losses to a considerable extend on stock-specific gains and marginal recovery in most of the counters from their earlier lows.

The Sensex, however, on the emergence of fresh selling pressure in late trades, ended the session with an another steep fall of 94 points at 6,154. The Nifty dropped 28 points to 1,928.

Reliance dropped 2% (Rs 11) to Rs 519. While ONGC fell 1.70% (Rs 14) to Rs 832, HLL dipped 2% (Rs 3) to Rs 130. ITC also ended lower at Rs 1,369 - down Rs 8.

Infosys tumbled 2.54% (Rs 50) to Rs 1,907, and Wipro declined 1.61% (Rs 10) to Rs 596. Satyam, however, ended with a per cent gain (Rs 3) at Rs 385.

HDFC Bank slumped 2.97%% (Rs 16) to Rs 521, while ICICI Bank lost 3.89% (Rs 16) to Rs 387. SBI ended with a small loss of Rs 2 at Rs 620.

Dr. Reddy's declined 3.58% (Rs 25) to Rs 686, and Cipla was down a per cent (Rs 2) at Rs 232. Ranbaxy also ended weak at Rs 936 - down Rs 16 or 1.67%.

Grasim slipped 1.18% (Rs 13) to Rs 1,171. While Gujarat Ambuja lost 1.19% (Rs 5) to Rs 416, ACC was down a tad at Rs 361.

Hero Honda dropped 3% (Rs 16) to Rs 502, and Bajaj was down a per cent (Rs 9) at Rs 1,069. While Tata Motors advanced 2.68% (Rs 11) to Rs 421, Maruti added 1.49% (Rs 6) to Rs 412.

Hindalco lost nearly 2.27% (Rs 28) to Rs 1,228. Reliance Energy (down Rs 13 or 2.54% to Rs 495), Tisco (down Rs 11 or 3.13% to Rs 355) and Tata Power (down Rs 7 or 2.10% to Rs 331) also ended with steep losses.

While L&T moved up 2% (Rs 19) to Rs 972, HPCL ended in the green at Rs 325 - up Rs 3. Bharti ended a tad higher at Rs 204.