Sensex swings 1,100pts, ends down 372pts

The Sensex opened with a huge positive gap of over 300 points at 17,921. Fresh buying in early trades saw the index rally to a high of 18,185 - up 591 points from the previous close.

Selling pressure at higher levels saw the index plunge to a low of 17,070 - down 1,115 points from the day's high.

The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 372 points (2.1%) at 17,222.

The NSE Nifty slipped 170 points (3.3%) to 5,033.

The BSE market breadth was extremely negative - out of 2,741 stocks traded, 2,341 declined, 385 advanced and 15 were unchanged today.

INDEX SHAKERS...

NTPC and Reliance Energy slumped 9% each to Rs 204 and Rs 1,816, respectively.

Larsen & Toubro and Hindalco plunged 5.5% each to Rs 3,538 and Rs 152, respectively.

Bajaj Auto and ONGC tumbled 4.7% each to Rs 2,110 and Rs 944, respectively.

Wipro and Grasim slipped around 4.5% each to Rs 411 and Rs 2,895, respectively.

TCS slipped nearly 3% to Rs 843. Reliance and BHEL shed around 2.5% each at Rs 2,491 and Rs 2,096, respectively.

...AND THE MOVERS

HDFC surged over 3% to Rs 2,614.

Satyam and Reliance Communications gained 1.7% each at Rs 400 and Rs 625, respectively. SBI was up 1% at Rs 2,346.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance Natural Resources topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 408 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 313.60 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 304.30 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 175.25 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 169.75 crore).

Ispat Industries led the volume chart with trades of around 2.95 crore shares followed by Reliance Natural Resources (2.91 crore), Reliance Petroleum (1.81 crore), Tata Teleservices (1.22 crore) and IFCI (1.21 crore).