Sensex ends down 170 points

The Sensex has close at 16717, down 170 points and the Nifty has ended at 4970, down 50 points, on a provisional basis.

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update at 1502 hrs

The Sensex has slipped deeper into red to a low of 16,737, down 148 points.

The NSE Nifty is also at its lower level at 4,973, down 46 points.

Among the sectoral indices, IT index has shed 1.35%. Auto, FMCG and power indices are marginally down.

Jaiprakash Associates has plunged 5.5% to Rs 236 after its  treasury share sale. Bharti Airtel has slipped 3.5% to Rs 414. Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Communications have declined nearly 2% each to Rs 259 and Rs 301, respectively.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys and Reliance Infrastructure have shed 1.5% each to Rs 872, Rs 2,367 and Rs 1,226, respectively.

Larsen & Toubro is down 1.5% to Rs 1,642. ACC has declined over 1% to Rs 837.

HDFC Bank has gained 2.5% to Rs 1,582. Sterlite has advanced 1.5% to Rs 774.

The market breadth is negative with 1,716 declines and 1,031 advances out of 2,830 stocks.