Weakness persists; breadth very -ve

The Sensex opened 92 points lower at 9,213, and touched a low of 9,079 in morning trades. The index is now down 208 points at 9,098.

DLF has slumped 6.5% to Rs 146. Mahindra & Mahindra has tumbled nearly 5% to Rs 299, and Tata Steel has shed 4% at Rs 177.

Wipro and ICICI Bank have plunged nearly 4% each to Rs 208 and Rs 394, respectively.

Infosys and HDFC Bank have dropped 2.5% each to Rs 1,178 and Rs 882, respectively.

TCS, Hindalco, Reliance Communications and Maruti have slipped around 3.3% each to Rs 484, Rs 43, Rs 166 and Rs 601, respectively.

Tata Power and Reliance Infrastructure have declined 3% each to Rs 752 and Rs 517, respectively.

HDFC and Jaiprakash Associates are down nearly 3% each to Rs 1,456 and Rs 68, respectively.

Grasim, Reliance and SBI are down around 2.5% each at Rs 1,316, Rs 1,287 and Rs 1,109, respectively.

The market breadth is very negative - out of 2,045 stocks traded so far, 1,437 declined, 534 advanced and the rest were unchanged.