Sensex ends down 385pts, Bharti soars 5%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 33 points at 20,009, but slipped into negative zone immediately on the back of negative cues from the Asian markets.

The index displayed range-bound movement in the morning session, but slipped deeper into red in the second half and dropped to a low of 19,502 - down 507 points from the day's open. The Sensex recovered some ground towards the closing bell, and finally ended with a loss of 385 points at 19,591.

The BSE Bankex and Oil & Gas index shed 2% each to 11,008 and 11,506, respectively. The Auto and FMCG indices dropped 1.7% each to 5329 and 2027, respectively.

The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,812 stocks traded, 1,433 advanced, 1,321 declined and 58 were unchanged today.

INDEX SHAKERS...

ONGC plunged 5% to Rs 1,299. ICICI Bank slumped 4.5% to Rs 1,271.

Larsen & Toubro shed 4% at Rs 4,287. Infosys dropped 2.7% to Rs 1,856.

Maruti slipped 2.5% to Rs 995. ACC, ITC and HDFC Bank declined 2.3% each to Rs 1,008, Rs 171 and Rs 1,718, respectively.

Dr.Reddy's, Hindalco and Tata Motors dropped over 2% each to Rs 601, Rs 184 and Rs 740, respectively.

BHEL and Reliance were down nearly 2% each at Rs 2,663 and Rs 2,664, respectively.

HDFC, Reliance Energy, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Steel slipped 1.7% each to Rs 2,607, Rs 1,821, Rs 743 and Rs 879, respectively.

...AND THE MOVERS

Bharti Airtel soared 5.3% to Rs 942.

Cipla gained nearly 2% at Rs 177. NTPC added 1% to Rs 237.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance Natural Resources topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 1,345.60 crore followed by Reliance Petroleum (Rs 869 crore), Reliance (Rs 441.20 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 300 crore) and Larsen & Toubro (Rs 213.20 crore).

Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of around eight crore shares followed by Reliance Petroleum (3.18 crore), JP Hydropower (1.69 crore), Tata Teleservices (1.55 crore) and Nocil (1.10 crore).