Following the hefty 1,814-point loss last week, the Sensex opened with a negative gap of 94 points at 19,014, and continued to drift deeper into red as the day progressed.

Relentless selling in the last session saw the index tumble to a low of 16,951 - down 2,063 points (10.8%) from the previous close. (Since the index had dropped over 10% after 1400 hrs, the circuit limit was placed at 15%).

Bargain hunting at lower levels saw the index recover some ground, and finally end at 17,605 - down 1,408 points (7.4%); the biggest-ever loss in absolute terms and also the first-ever four digit loss for the index.

While the Midcap Index plunged 1,012 points (11.4%) to 7,882, the Smallcap Index tumbled 1,249 points (10.3%) to 9,443.

The NSE Nifty shed 496 points (8.7%) at 5,209.

The BSE breadth was extremely negative - out of 2,810 stocks traded, 2,657 declined, 139 advanced and 14 were unchanged.

Index Shakers

Reliance Energy [Get Quote] and ACC crashed around 16% each to 1,776 and Rs 728, respectively.

Bajaj Auto [Get Quote] tumbled over 15% to Rs 2,064. NTPC slumped over 14% to Rs 206, and Reliance Communications [Get Quote] plunged nearly 13% to Rs 613.

Hindalco [Get Quote] and DLF dropped over 10% each to Rs 166 and Rs 904, respectively.

Grasim [Get Quote] and Reliance slipped over 9% each to Rs 3,025 and Rs 2,544, respectively.

Tata Motors [Get Quote], BHEL and ONGC [Get Quote] declined around 8% each to Rs 654, Rs 2,114 and Rs 1,114, respectively.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel [Get Quote] and TCS [Get Quote] shed 7.5% each at Rs 673, Rs 722 and Rs 836, respectively.

SBI [Get Quote] and Hindustan Unilever dropped around 7% each to Rs 2,200 and Rs 200, respectively.

Larsen & Toubro, Ranbaxy [Get Quote] and Cipla were down 6% each at Rs 3,689, Rs 363 and Rs 190, respectively.

ICICI Bank [Get Quote] and HDFC [Get Quote] declined nearly 6% each to Rs 1,173 and Rs 2,660, respectively.

Bharti Airtel [Get Quote], Infosys [Get Quote], ITC, Maruti [Get Quote], HDFC Bank, Ambuja Cements and Wipro [Get Quote] were down 3-5% each.

Value & Volume Toppers

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 663.60 crore followed by Reliance Natural Resources [Get Quote] (Rs 491.70 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 466.40 crore), Reliance Petroleum [Get Quote] (Rs 456.80 crore) and Reliance Capital [Get Quote] (Rs 340.50 crore).

Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of around 2.75 crore shares followed by Ispat Industries [Get Quote] (2.55 crore), Reliance Petroleum (2.47 crore), Tata Teleservices [Get Quote] (1.53 crore) and IFCI (1.49 crore).