Sensex down 172pts; breadth -ve

The Sensex is now down 172 points at 12,883.

Sterlite has slumped 7.7% to Rs 396, and Tata Steel has plunged 5.5% to Rs 415.

Reliance Communications has shed 4.5% at Rs 328. Reliance has tumbled 4% to Rs 1,831, and Infosys has dropped 3.8% to Rs 1,399.

Tata Motors, Satyam and TCS have slipped around 3% each to Rs 329, Rs 309 and Rs 652, respectively.

ICICI Bank has declined 2.5% to Rs 538. DLF, Grasim and Bharti Airtel are down 2% each at Rs 338, Rs 1,730 and Rs 775, respectively.

Ranbaxy has soared 6.3% to Rs 268. ITC has surged 2.5% to Rs 197.

Mahindra & Mahindra, BHEL and Hindustan Unilever are up around 1.5% each at Rs 515, Rs 1,614 and Rs 258, respectively.

The market breadth is fairly negative - out of 1,961 stocks traded so far, 1,149 have declined, 748 have advanced and 64 are unchanged.