Sensex ends down 324pts; Ranbaxy plunges 8%

Mirroring mixed cues from the Asian markets, the Sensex today opened flat at 13,930. The index moved sideways for the first hour but failed to retain its firmness and slipped to a low of 13,519, down 685 points.

Brisk selling was witnessed in the Sensex after the European markets opened on a lower note. Heavy profit booking took place in the market before the expiry of the F&O dragged the index into the negative terrain.

The Sensex finally ended 324 points down at 13,589.

The BSE Realty index shed 4% at 3,314 and the Bankex was down 3% at 7,605.

The breadth was negative, out of 2,810 shares traded, 1,452 declined, 1,326 advanced and 32 were unchanged today.

INDEX SHAKERS....

Reliance Communications plunged 9.5% to Rs 291. Ranbaxy dropped over 8% to Rs 244.

Tata Motors slipped 6% to Rs 325.

NTPC, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel declined over 5% each to Rs 201, Rs 666 and Rs 770, respectively.

DLF, Larsen & Toubro, Jaiprakash Associates and Mahindra & Mahindra shed 3-4% each at Rs 337, Rs 1,255, Rs 178 and Rs 610, respectively.

ITC, ONGC, Reliance, Tata Steel , SBI, Maruti, ACC, HDFC, Tata Power and TCS  were down 1-3% each.

AND THE MOVERS...

Hindalco, on the other hand, gained over 3% to Rs 80. Infosys was up over 2% at Rs 1,543 and Wipro advanced 1.5% at Rs 372.


OTHER PROMINENT LOSERS

Tulip Telecommuniations plunged 11% to Rs 638. HDIL, Reliance Communications, Titan, Tech Mahindra, Opto Circuit, Jet Airways, IFCI, Power Finance Corporation, Kotak Bank, Biacon, Madras Cement, Fortis Health, Areva, RECL, Power Grid, Lanco Infratech, Jubilant Organosys and Reliance Capital declined 7-10% each.

AND THE OTHER GAINERS

Spice Telecommunication surged 30% to Rs 80. Rei Agro, Indiabulls Financial, Jai Corp, LIC Housing Finance, NMDC, Hindalco, GSK Pharma and Videocon advanced 2-6% each.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance Capital topped the value chart with total turnover of Rs 262.07 followed by HDIL (Rs 230.94 crore),  Reliance (Rs 178.20), Unitech (Rs 170 crore), and Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 159.37 crore).

Cals Refineries topped the volumes chart with trades of 141.65 million shares. It was followed by Ispat (33.64 million), Satyam Computer (27.87 million), Unitech (22.48 million) and Reliance Natural Resources (19.88 million).