The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 28 points at 6,719. After moving to a high of 6,737 (down 10 pts from the last close) in early trades, the markets thereafter were under the grip of a bear hug through the trading session on Thursday.
Steady selling pressure in most of the counters saw the markets display a negative range-bound trend till mid-noon trades.
The late noon trades witnessed a total sell-off, as steep correction across-the-board dragged the index below the 6,650-mark to an intra-day low of 6,641.
The Sensex slightly tapered off its losses to close 77 points lower at 6,670. The Nifty slipped below the 2,100-mark to finish at 2,098 - down 28 points.
Reliance dropped 2% (Rs 12) to Rs 562. ITC and HLL ended with marginal losses at Rs 1,333 and Rs 134, respectively.
HDFC Bank shed 3.56% (Rs 21) to Rs 573. While SBI was down Rs 2 at Rs 726, ICICI Bank, however, was up a rupee at Rs 401.
Infosys (down Rs 12 to Rs 2,180), Wipro (down Rs 2 to Rs 680) and Satyam (down Rs 3 to Rs 400) largely ended on a subdued note.
HPCL slipped 2.36% (Rs 8) to Rs 331.
Hero Honda dropped 3.13% (Rs 17) to Rs 536. While Maruti lost nearly 3% (Rs 13) to Rs 436, Bajaj, after a mixed outing, was down a per cent (Rs 9) at Rs 1,085. Tata Motors also ended weak at Rs 453 - down Rs 3.
Grasim tumbled 2.51% (Rs 34) to Rs 1,306. While Gujarat Ambuja declined 2.65% (Rs 11) to Rs 417, ACC was down Rs 2 at Rs 359.
Bharti's downward movement continued, and the counter slipped below Rs 200 to end 5.13% lower at Rs 199.
Hindalco dipped 2.55% (Rs 37) to Rs 1,407. While L&T slumped 2.14% (Rs 23) to Rs 1,045, BHEL lost 1.80% (Rs 14) to Rs 782. Tisco and Zee, too, ended at lower levels at Rs 431 (down Rs 9 or 2%) and Rs 134 (down Rs 3 or 2.26%), respectively.
ONGC, however, recovered from its lows to end with a per cent gain (Rs 5) at Rs 913.
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