Sensex down 346pts; Bankex down 5%

The Sensex continues to languish at lower levels and is now down 346  points at 8,945. The BSE Bankex is down 5% at 4,707.

Wipro has slumped 7.5% to Rs 233, and ICICI Bank has tumbled 6.5% to Rs 362.

ACC has plunged over 6% to Rs 410. Tata Power, NTPC and Sterlite have shed around 5.5% each at Rs 684, Rs 143 and Rs 215, respectively.

SBI and HDFC have slipped over 5% each to Rs 1,108 and Rs 1,422, respectively.

Satyam and TCS have dropped nearly 5% each to Rs 240 and Rs 494, respectively.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys and Jaiprakash Associates have declined around 4.5% each to Rs 305, Rs 1,178 and Rs 69, respectively.

HDFC Bank, Reliance Infrastructure, Grasim and Bharti Airtel are down 3.7% each at Rs 898, Rs 466, Rs 982 and Rs 641, respectively.

The market breadth is fairly negative - out of 2,349 stocks traded so far, 1,742 have declined, 546 have advanced and the rest are unchanged.