Sensex sheds 395 pts at close

Nifty 5428.25 -96.60

Sensex 18419.04 -395.03

The Sensex, which nosedived to 18,336 during the final hour of trade, settled at 18,419.04 with a huge loss of 395.03 points or 2.1%. The Nifty, which swung in a range of around 147 points - it hit a high of 5549.30 and a low of 5402.60 in intra-day trades today - closed with a loss of 1.75% or 96.60 points.

Due to widespread selling during the last couple of hours, the market breadth turned quite weak. Out of 2801 stocks traded on BSE today, 1689 stocks ended in the negative territory. 1053 stocks closed with gains and 59 stocks settled at their previous closing levels.
The mood turned so bearish this afternoon that only four stocks, Reliance Energy (2.45%), ONGC (2.4%), Mahindra & Mahindra (1.8%) and Hindalco (1.75%), among the Sensex components ended on a positive note.

State Bank of India lost as much as 4.2% today. Larsen & Toubro (down 3.6%), Tata Motors (down 3.4%), ICICI Bank (down 3.35%), BHEL (down 3.3%), Cipla (down 3.3%) and Reliance Communications (down 3.1%) closed with sharp losses.

Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, Infosys Technologies, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, ITC, NTPC, Satyam Computer Services and HDFC lost 2% - 3%. Maruti Udyog and Hindustan Unilever eased by nearly 2% as they settled at Rs 1096.80 and Rs 221.40 respectively.
Ambuja Cements (down 1.8%), HDFC Bank (down 1.75%), Grasim Industries (down 1.4%), Tata Consultancy Services (down 0.8%) and ACC (down 0.75%) also closed with sharp losses.

Wipro, Tata Steel and Ranbaxy Laboratories ended marginally down from their previous closing levels.

Nifty stocks Suzlon Energy, Tata Power, VSNL, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Nalco, ABB, Reliance Petroleum, Siemens, GlaxoSmithKline Pharma, Sterlite Industries and MTNL ended sharply lower. Zee Entertainment, Unitech, SAIL and HCL Technologies also finished on a weak note. GAIL India ended nearly a per cent up.

Further, Visit : Bulls take a break, Sensex sheds 395 pts

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