252 points lower

The market saw high volatility during the day, as stocks gyrated between either sides of the zones throughout the session with the Sensex witnessing the intra-day swing of 524 points. The market opened higher, buoyed by overnight gains in the US markets, but pared early gains as investors' sentiment turned cautious as the Sensex neared its intra-day high of 9,327 points. Thereafter, sustained selling in frontline, realty and auto stocks saw the Sensex enter into the negative territory. After displaying some range-bound moves, the market plunged deep into the red on heavy selling towards the close to touch the day's low of 8,803. The Sensex finally closed the session at 8,840, down 253 points. The Nifty closed at 2,683, down 72 points.

The breadth of the market was negative. Of the 2,195 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,160 stocks declined, whereas 970 stocks advanced. Sixty five stocks ended unchanged. Among the sectoral indices, BSE Realty shed 5.34%, BSE Auto declined 4.64% and BSE CD was down 4.47%.

Selective buying helped the index overcome its losses. Grasim Industries gained 1.75% at Rs904.80, Tata Steel advanced 1.69% at Rs153.50 and Tata Consultancy Services added 1.06% at Rs563.95. Sterlite Industries, Reliance Communications and JP Associates notched up steady gains.

Selling was evident in select heavyweights. DLF dropped 9.96% at Rs178.50, Maruti Suzuki India declined 9.40% at Rs485.50, ICICI Bank tumbled 7.21% at Rs326.05, Reliance Infrastructure shed 7.21% at Rs467, BHEL dipped 6.71% at Rs1,2669.95, Ranbaxy Laboratories was down 4.96% at Rs198.45 and ITC shed 4.61% at Rs165.50.

Over 2.51 crore shares of Unitech changed hands on the BSE followed by Suzlon Energy (0.94 crore shares), GVK Power & Infrastructure (92.52 lakh shares), Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (63.91 lakh shares) and ITC (46.21 lakh shares).