Sensex drops 84 points

The market went into a correction mode at the opening bell and remained in negative territory for half of the session. Weak global markets, continuing net outflows weighed on the sentiment. After resuming 69 points lower at 15482, the index slipped below the 15400-mark by mid-morning trades before a bout of buying support saw it nearly rebound and cross the 15600-level in late morning trades and touch the day’s high of 15628. However, sustained selling in noon trades saw the index slide sharply and slip below the 15400-mark to touch the day's low of 15393. The Sensex pared some losses towards the close and ended the session at 15467, down 84 points. The Nifty declined 17 points to close at 4608.

All the 13 sectoral indices on the BSE were up or down marginally. BSE Realty shed 1.76%, BSE Auto lost 1.36%, BSE CG gave up 1.26% and BSE Power fell 1.08%, while BSE Bankex and BSE Metal were down around 0.50% each. BSE IT, BSE Teck and BSE HC however logged steady gains.

A steep fall in select heavyweights dragged the markets down. Sterlite Industries dropped 3.16% to Rs635.15, Bharat Heavy Electricals tumbled 2.65% to Rs2,261.20, JP Associates slumped 2.57% to Rs216.35, Maruti Suzuki India dipped 2.27% to Rs1,510.80, Bharti Airtel declined 2.13% to Rs412.65, Mahindra & Mahindra fell 2.09% to Rs829.55, Grasim Industries lost 1.44% to quote at Rs2,607.05 and Tata Power slipped 1.37% to trade at Rs1,283.75. However, select front-line counters attracted buying support. Reliance Communications rose 4.56% to Rs276, Hindustan Unilever added 2.01% to quote at Rs266.95, Hero Honda Motors moved up by 1.40% to Rs1,556.30, Tata Consultancy Services advanced 1.19% to Rs532.85 and Infosys Technologies jumped 1.05% to Rs2,165.20.

Over 3.38 crore NHPC shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Suzlon Energy (1.97 crore shares), Unitech (1.89 crore shares), Mahindra Satyam (1.77 crore shares) and Dish TV India (1.09 crore shares).

Valuewise, Reliance Capital registered a turnover of Rs233 crore followed by Mahindra Satyam (Rs213 crore), Unitech (Rs196 crore), Suzlon Energy (Rs190 crore) and DLF (Rs165 crore).