Sensex slips below 17,000-mark, down 616pts

The Sensex has slipped below the 17,000-mark, and is now down 616 points at 16,963.

The NSE Nifty is down 186 points at 5,037.

BHEL, SBI and ICICI Bank have plunged nearly 6% each to Rs 2,148, Rs 1,988 and Rs 1,029, respectively.

DLF, Bharti Airtel and NTPC have tumbled around 5% each to Rs 741, Rs 786 and Rs 192, respectively.

Reliance has dropped 4.5% to Rs 2,346. Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Communications have slipped over 4% each to Rs 3,377 and Rs 552, respectively.

Wipro has shed nearly 4% at Rs 418. Infosys, ITC and HDFC are down 3.7% each at Rs 1,490, Rs 195 and Rs 2,701, respectively.

Maruti has soared over 4% to Rs 904. Ranbaxy has gained 2.4% at Rs 457, and Cipla has added 2.2% to Rs 212.

Hindustan Unilever has rallied 2% to Rs 232. Mahindra & Mahindra is up 1.3% at Rs 702.