The Sensex opened with positive gap of 107 points at 16,455 on a strong cues from the Asian markets.

Fresh buying in FMCG stocks saw the index touch a high of 16,506.

Intra-day profit taking in noon deals saw the index pare gains and drop to a low of 16,238. Banking and PSU stocks were hit the most.

The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 73 points at 16,275.

The market breadth was negative - out of 2,763 stocks traded, 922 advanced, 1,760 declined and 81 were unchanged on Tuesay.

The NSE Nifty was down 15 points at a close of 4,860.

INDEX SHAKERS. . .

SBI [Get Quote] tumbled 4.2% to Rs 1,473. HDFC [Get Quote] plunged over 2% to Rs 2,520.

ICICI Bank [Get Quote] slipped 1.7% to Rs 812.

ONGC [Get Quote] declined 1.3% to Rs 884, while Reliance and HDFC Bank dropped 1.2% each at Rs 2,493 and Rs 1,331.

DLF and Tata Steel [Get Quote] were down 0.8% each to Rs 596 and Rs 868, respectively.

Hindalco [Get Quote] was down 0.5% to Rs 185.

. . .AND THE MOVERS

Satyam [Get Quote] surged 3.3% to Rs 499, and Cipla gained 3% to Rs 205.

Wipro [Get Quote] advanced 2.7% to Rs 492. ITC and Reliance Communications [Get Quote] added 1.6% each to Rs 209 and Rs 552, respectively.

Ambuja Cements, NTPC and Reliance Infrastructure moved up nearly 1% each at Rs 98, Rs 177 and Rs 1,259, respectively.

TCS [Get Quote] was up 0.8% to Rs 967.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

Bajaj Finserv led the value chart with a turnover of Rs 208.92 crore followed by Reliance Capital [Get Quote] (Rs 195.04 crore), Reliance (Rs 159.70 crore), Aishwarya Telecom (150.44 crore) and Reliance Power (Rs 143.90 crore).

Chambal Fertilisers topped the volume chart with trades of around 1.67 crore shares followed by IFCI (1.45 crore), Aishwarya Telecom (1.42 crore), Ispat Industries [Get Quote] (1.37 crore) and Reliance Natural Resources [Get Quote] (1.17 crore).