Sensex sheds 386pts amid high volatility

The Sensex opened with a significant negative gap of 365 points at 9,755 on the back of weak cues from the global markets. Metal stocks witnessed aggressive selling today.

The index plummeted to a low of 9,635 - down 485 points from the previous close. A pull-back in intra-day deals saw the index touch a high of 10,109. The Sensex, however, slipped back to lower levels in the last hour of trades and finally ended with a loss of 386 points at 9,734.

The BSE Metal index plunged 8.5% to 4,993. The Oil & Gas index shed 4.8% at 5,817, and the IT index slipped over 4% to 2,618.

The market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,585 stocks traded, 1,633 declined, 869 advanced and the rest were unchanged today.

INDEX SHAKERS...

Tata Steel slumped 13.7% to Rs 186. Sterlite plunged over 11% to Rs 238, and Hindalco dropped 7.5% to Rs 57.

Tata Motors tumbled over 12% to Rs 159. Reliance shed 7.7% at Rs 1,172.

Bharti Airtel and Wipro slipped around 6.5% each to Rs 639 and Rs 253, respectively.

Infosys and HDFC dropped 5.5% each to Rs 1,248 and Rs 1,657, respectively.

Reliance Communications and SBI declined 4.5% each to Rs 216 and Rs 1,215, respectively.

ICICI Bank was down nearly 4% at Rs 434. Tata Power and Satyam slipped 3.5% each to Rs 719 and Rs 269, respectively.

HDFC, Reliance Infrastructure, Maruti, Grasim and NTPC were the other major losers.

...AND THE MOVERS

Jaiprakash Associates surged over 4% to Rs 84. Ranbaxy gained 3.7% at Rs 216.

Hindustan Unilever rallied 3% to Rs 245. DLF added 2.5% to Rs 271. Mahindra & Mahindra was up 1% at Rs 379.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 391.50 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 203 crore), SBI (Rs 173 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 165.30 crore) and debutant Alkali Metals (Rs 161.35 crore).

GVK Power led the volume chart with trades of around 3.30 crore shares followed by Suzlon (2.27 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (1.40 crore), Unitech (1.22 crore) and IFCI (1.16 crore).