The benchmark Sensex on Thursday plunged by 266 points to close at 8222. At 1521 hrs it had shed 301 points at 8187, the largest intra-day fall registered since May 17, last year on the Bombay Stock Exchange, as nervous market players and investors continued to reduce their holdings. Nifty, which had shed 100 points earlier, closed at 2472, down 95 points.

Funds sold heavily in index-linked stocks of Reliance Industries, Reliance Capital, Tata Consultancy, Tata Steel, Infosys Technologies, Bajaj Auto, Grasim, Housing Development Finance, ONGC, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India.

The market experienced the second consecutive intra-day fall. Yesterday, it went into a tailspin and lost over 235 points after zooming to a record high of over 8,500 points recently.

The key index had tanked 565 points in a single trading session on May 17, 2004. The market sentiment turned sluggish on reports that a meeting of officials from finance ministry, Central Board of Direct Taxes and Directorate of Revenue held last week, planned to look into the ongoing boom in the stock markets.

The trading sentiment dampened further as market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India imposed special huge margins on buying at several counters.

ONGC plunged over 4% (Rs 43) to Rs 996. Reliance lost 3.5% (Rs 28) to Rs 755. HLL dropped 3.5% (Rs 6) to Rs 165. ITC was down 2.6% (Rs 4) to Rs 136.

Infosys lost over 2% (Rs 52) to Rs 2,413. Satyam plumetted 5% (Rs 27) to Rs 528. TCS was down Rs 50 at Rs 1,403, and Wipro dipped 4.6% (Rs 17) to Rs 356.

Bajaj dropped over 3% (Rs 53) to Rs 1,615. Hero Honda, Maruti and Tata Motors also declined.

Hindalco slumped over 6% (Rs 10) to Rs 145. Bharti dropped over 4% (Rs 15) to Rs 335. BHEL was down Rs 33 at Rs 1,102. HDFC was down Rs 24 at Rs 966.

Grasim slipped 4% (Rs 50) to Rs 1,310. Gujarat Ambuja and ACC also finished with steep losses.

SBI dipped 3% (Rs 27) to Rs 892. HDFC Bank also lost over 3% (Rs 24) to Rs 699. ICICI Bank was down Rs 4 at Rs 573.

Ranbaxy was down over 4% (Rs 21) at Rs 495. Cipla and Dr. Reddy's also declined.