The Sensex opened 47 points higher at 15,744 despite the negative close in the US markets and touched a day's high of 15,790.
Unabated selling in realty, banking and IT stocks pushed the index into a negative zone. The index drifted to a low of 15,390 - down 400 points from day's high.
The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 274 points at 15,422.
The markets breadth was marginally negative - out of 2,731 stocks traded, 1,402 declined, 1,254 advanced and 75 were unchanged today.
The NSE Nifty ended with a loss of 71 points at 4,582.
The shakers...
ICICI Bank tumbled 4.2% to Rs 785. HDFC Bank plunged 3.4% to Rs 1,166. Tata Steel declined 3.2% to Rs 823.
Larsen & Toubro slipped 3.1% to Rs 2,750. Jaiprakash Associates dropped 2.9% to Rs 182. Reliance Infrastructure lost 2.8% at Rs 1,073.
DLF and Bharti Airtel declined 2.7% each to Rs 492 and Rs 811, respectively.
BHEL and SBI shed 2.6% each at Rs 1,499 and Rs 1,351, respectively.
Infosys was trading at Rs 1,866 - down 2.5%. Satyam lost 2.4% to Rs 472. TCS shed 2.3% to Rs 900.
Reliance and Wipro were down nearly 2% each at Rs 2,283 and Rs 485, respectively.
NTPC, Hindustan Unilever and Cipla were the other major losers.
...and the movers
Ambuja Cements soared 4.8% to Rs 91. Ranbaxy surged 2.9% at Rs 598.
Grasim gained 2.4% to Rs 2,229. Maruti advanced 1.2% to Rs 765.
Hindalco and ACC added nearly 1% each at Rs 174 and Rs 643, respectively.
ITC was up 0.8% at Rs 204, while HDFC inched 0.7% to Rs 2,314.
Most active counters
Anu Labs led the value chart with a turnover of Rs 643.25 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 286.02 crore), Ranbaxy (Rs 245.66 crore), Reliance (Rs 211.08 crore) and Reliance Petroleum (Rs 163.07 crore).
Anu Labs, also, topped the volume chart with trades of around 1.49 crore shares followed by Ispat Industries (1.40 crore), Chambal Fertilisers (1.30 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (1.28 crore) and IFCI (1.14 crore).
