Following yesterday's significant rally, the Sensex opened with a positive gap of 101 points at 17,479. However, the index could not much higher as profit taking in financial stocks forced the index slip into the negative zone.

The index slipped to a low of 17,244 - down 237 points from the day's high of 17,481. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 91 points at 17,287.

The market breadth was marginally negative - out of 2,768 stocks traded, 1,407 declined and 1,292 advanced on Wednesday.

The NSE Nifty slipped 30 points to close at 5,166

Index shakers

HDFC [Get Quote] dropped 3.7% to Rs 2,775. DLF plunged over 3% to Rs 703.

Grasim [Get Quote] slipped nearly 3% to Rs 2,402. ICICI Bank [Get Quote] and HDFC Bank shed 2.3% each at Rs 880 and Rs 1,513, respectively.

ACC and ONGC [Get Quote] dropped 2% each to Rs 760 and Rs 1,033, respectively.

Reliance, Hindalco [Get Quote] and Satyam [Get Quote] declined around 1.5% each to Rs 2,609, Rs 195 and Rs 472, respectively.

Ranbaxy [Get Quote] was down 1% at Rs 480.

And the movers

ITC surged 3.5% to Rs 220. Tata Motors [Get Quote] rallied over 3% to Rs 660.

Wipro [Get Quote] and Mahindra & Mahindra advanced over 2% each to Rs 490 and Rs 657, respectively.

Maruti [Get Quote] and Jaiprakash Associates [Get Quote] gained 1.5% each at Rs 743 and Rs 270, respectively.

TCS [Get Quote] was up 1% at Rs 920.

Value and volume toppers

Sesa Goa [Get Quote] topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 258.50 crore followed by Reliance Petroleum [Get Quote] (Rs 240.50 crore), Reliance Communications [Get Quote] (Rs 236 crore), Titagarh Wagons (Rs 200.65 crore) and Reliance Capital [Get Quote] (Rs 188.65 crore).

Ispat Industries [Get Quote] led the volume chart with trades of around 1.97 crore shares followed by IFCI (1.60 crore), Reliance Natural Resources [Get Quote] (1.39 crore), Reliance Petroleum (1.18 crore) and Indiabulls [Get Quote] Securities (1.18 crore).