Sensex ends below 10K, sheds 256pts

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 125 points at 10,088, and then soon tumbled to a low of 9885 - down 328 points from its previous close.

The index tried hard to recover, but could only manage to touch a high of 10,193. A fresh round of heavy selling towards the close saw the index tumble back to lower levels and finish with a loss of 2.5% (256 points) at 9957.

In the process, the index ended below the 10,000-mark for the first time since February 17, 2006.

The BSE Metal and Capital Goods indices dropped over 4% each to 7921 and 6871, respectively. The FMCG index shed 4% to 1771, and the Oil & Gas index slipped 3% to 4788.

Declined beat advances 6:1, ie there were six losers for every gainer on the BSE. Out of 2,460 stocks traded, 2,090 have declined, 339 have advanced and 31 are unchanged.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

Reliance Energy plunged 7.5% to Rs 425. Larsen & Toubro shed 6% to Rs 2,129.

Hindalco, Ranbaxy and ONGC dropped 5.6% each to Rs 161, Rs 388 and Rs 1,041, respectively.

BHEL and ITC slipped 4.5% each to Rs 1,867 and Rs 153, respectively. NTPC was down over 4% at Rs 106.

HLL declined 3.8% to Rs 225. Dr.Reddy's, HDFC and Tata Steel were down 3% each.

SBI rallied over 3% to Rs 841.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 287.56 crore followed by Tata Steel (Rs 131.77 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 111.60 crore), SBI (Rs 111.14 crore) and Larsen & Toubro (Rs 74.31 crore).

G V Films led the volume chart with trades of around 37.75 lakh shares followed by India Cements (33 lakh), Gujarat Ambuja (32.38 lakh), Reliance (31.45 lakh) and ITC (30 lakh).