Mirroring weakness in the world markets, the Sensex opened with a negative gap of 169 points at 12,717, and continued to drift lower during the day. The selling pressure was so intense that the index tumbled to a low of 12,344 - down 542 points - in early morning trades.

The index, thereafter, attempted a feeble recovery - only to be met with unabated selling at every rise. Heavyweights, in particular, bore the brunt of the selling today. The Sensex finally ended with a hefty loss of 471 points (3.7%) at 12,415.

There was carnage across the Asian markets today - the Hang Seng shed 777 points (4%) to 18,665, and the Nikkei plunged 576 points (3.3%). 

GLOBAL MELTDOWN
Index	Country	Value	Net Chg	% Chg
Sensex	India	12415	(471)	(3.7)
Hang Seng	Hong Kong	18665	(777)	(4.0)
Nikkei	Japan	16642	(576)	(3.3)
Shanghai Comp	China	2785	(46)	(1.6)
Straits Times	Singapore	2982	(96)	(3.1)
FTSE	Britan	6016*	(100)	(1.6)
CAC 40	France	5322*	(103)	(1.9)
DAX	Germany	6471*	(132)	(2.0)
(* Markets are open now)

While the Mid-cap index plunged 272 points (5%) to 5194, the Small-cap index slumped 375 points (5.6%) to 6271.

The BSE Auto index crashed over 5% to 4756. The Healthcare, IT and Metal indices shed 4.5% each at 3328, 4730 and 8036, respectively.

Declining stocks beat advancing shares 11:1, ie there were 11 declining stocks for every advancing share . Out of 2,611 stocks traded, 2,363 declined, 220 advanced and 28 were unchanged today.

Sinking street...

Ranbaxy plunged 7.5% to Rs 321. Maruti, Dr.Reddy's and Wipro tumbled around 6.5% each to Rs 779, Rs 619 and Rs 537, respectively.

Larsen & Toubro slumped 5.5% to Rs 1,384. Tata Steel, ACC and Tata Motors dropped 5% each to Rs 420, Rs 813 and Rs 736, respectively.

Infosys, SBI and Reliance declined around 4.5% each to Rs 2,007, Rs 962 and Rs 1,259, respectively.

BHEL, Reliance Communications, TCS and Bajaj Auto were down around 4% each to Rs 2,010, Rs 399, Rs 1,162 and Rs 2,455, respectively.

ONGC, NTPC, Satyam and HLL slipped around 3% each to Rs 773, Rs 137, Rs 414 and Rs 174, respectively.

Gujarat Ambuja, however, gained 2% at Rs 112.

Most active counters

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 234.80 crore followed by Reliance Communications (Rs 169.50 crore), Apollo Hospitals (Rs 147.45 crore), Infosys (Rs 87.57 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs 84.62 crore).

IFCI led the volume chart with trades of around 2.61 crore followed by SAIL (60 lakh), IDFC (51.85 lakh), Reliance Communications (42.50 lakh) and Gujarat Ambuja (41.30 lakh).