The Sensex on Thursday opened with a gain of four points at 5,540. After inching up to an early high of 5,541, the market soon slipped into the red and remained bearish throughout the session. The index, which slipped below the 5,500-mark in mid-morning deals, remained subdued till late noon deals.

The market, however, witnessed an unprecedented selling pressure towards the closing hours, as steep losses in old and new economy stocks dragged the index below the 5,400-mark to an intra-day low of 5,399.

The Sensex finally ended the day with a huge loss of 2.18% (121 points) at 5,415.

The Nifty, too, lost heavily due to broad-based selling, and dropped 33 points to end at 1,717.

Reliance was hammered today as it tanked 4% (Rs 22) to close at Rs 518. ITC shed 1.55% (Rs 17) to Rs 1,081. HLL, however, closed up a rupee at Rs 145.

SBI closed with a loss of 3.51% (Rs 20) at Rs 559. While HPCL lost 4.60% (Rs 23) to Rs 470, BHEL ended with a loss of 1.20% (Rs 7) at Rs 558. MTNL was down 1.75% (Rs 2) at Rs 135.

Infosys slipped from higher levels to end with a loss of 2.14% (Rs 108) at Rs 4,925. While Wipro shed 3% (Rs 44) to Rs 1,425, Satyam lost 3% (Rs 9) to Rs 292.

Hindalco (down Rs 34 or 2.67% to Rs 1,256), HDFC Bank (down Rs 10 or 2.66% to Rs 353), ICICI Bank (down Rs 8 or 2.76% to Rs 281) and Bharti Tele (down Rs 4 or 2.98% to Rs 142) were battered today.

Tisco dropped 2.76% (Rs 11) to Rs 385. While Tata Power lost 3.48% (Rs 13) to Rs 359, Zee slumped 4.40% (Rs 5) to close at Rs 115.

Bajaj (down Rs 27 or 3.20% to Rs 827), Hero Honda (down Rs 14 or 3.10% to Rs 452) and Tata Motors (down Rs 17 or 3.57% to Rs 451) displayed southward trend throughout the session.

Cipla came under relentless selling pressure, and dropped 5.63% (Rs 67) to close at Rs 1,129. Ranbaxy was down Rs 5 at Rs 947. Dr. Reddy's, however, added 1.17% (Rs 12) to close at Rs 1,001.

L&T lost 1.69% (Rs 10) to Rs 563. Grasim (down Rs 3 to Rs 1,023), Gujarat Ambuja (down Rs 2 to Rs 288) and ACC (down Rs 3 or 1.19% to Rs 245) ended with marginal losses.

HDFC, however, bucked the downtrend with a gain of 1.72% (Rs 10) at Rs 601. ONGC also ended at higher levels with a per cent gain (Rs 7) at Rs 860.