Sensex cools, drops 3 tonne

The market began on a positive note at 13930 and touched the day's high of 13991, but remained range-bound as trading progressed. After slipping below 14800 level in noon trades, the Sensex plunged deep into the red towards the close on unabated selling in reality, banking and capital goods stocks, touching the day's low of 13519. The Sensex signed off the session down 2.33% or 324 points at 13589. Nifty tumbled by 121 points to close at 4117.

The market breadth was marginally weak. Of the 2,810 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,454 stocks declined, whereas 1,323 stocks advanced. Thirty three stocks ended unchanged. All the sectoral indices were hammered today bar the BSE IT. The BSE Realty led the slump crashing by 3.96% to 3315. The BSE Bankex was 3.13% down at 7605, the BSE CG lost 3.06% at 10795 and the BSE CD dropped 3.01% at 2549. Other sectoral indices slipped by around 1-2% each.

Out of the 30 Sensex stocks, 26 ended in the red, with realty stocks taking a strong beating. Among realty stocks, Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) plummeted by 9.88% at Rs264.60 and Sobha Developers crashed by 6.57% at Rs180.75. Banking majors Kotak Mahindra Bank slumped 7.62% at Rs630.95 and Karnataka Bank lost nearly 7.13% at Rs133.45. Index heavyweight Reliance Communications plunged 9.56% at Rs291.45, Ranbaxy Laboratories shed 8.36% at Rs244.40, Tata Motors declined by 5.91% at Rs325.50, National Thermal Power Corporation slipped by 5.33% at Rs201.40 and Bharti Airtel fell by 5.05% at Rs770.40.

Over 14.16 crore shares of Cals Refineries changed hands on the BSE followed by Ispat industries (3.36 crore shares), Satyam Computer Services (2.78 crore shares), Unitech (2.24 crore shares) and Reliance Natural Resources (1.98 crore shares).

In value terms, Reliance Capital registered a turnover of Rs294 crore followed by HDIL (Rs230 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs178 crore), Unitech (Rs169 crore) and Reliance Natural Resources (Rs153 crore).