Taking weak cues from the global markets the Sensex opened with a negative gap of 263 points at 14,086. The index could hardly manage to touch a high of 14,153 before slipping to lower levels.

Rate hike move by the Reserve Bank of India triggered a fresh round of selling. The index tumbled to a low of 13,727 - down 622 points from the previous close. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 557 points at 13,792.

The BSE Bankex tumbled 8.3% (562 points) to 6,200. The realty index shed 5.5% at 4,798, and the Capital Godds index dropped almost 5% to 11,321.

The market breadth was negative - out of 2,707 stocks traded, 1,667 declined, 968 advanced and 72 were unchanged today.

The NSE Nifty dropped 142 points to settle at 4,190.

Index Shakers...

HDFC Bank [Get Quote] and ICICI Bank [Get Quote] slumped around 8.5% each to Rs 1,029 and Rs 607, respectively. SBI [Get Quote] tumbled nearly 7% to Rs 1,321, and HDFC slipped over 5% to Rs 2,106.

Reliance Infrastructure shed 8% at Rs 908. Maruti [Get Quote] and Tata Motors [Get Quote] plunged around 7% each to Rs 568 and Rs 397, respectively.

Larsen & Toubro dropped 6.5% to Rs 2,546. Mahindra & Mahindra and DLF declined 5.5% each to Rs 500 and Rs 472, respectively.

Jaiprakash Associates [Get Quote] slipped over 5% to Rs 153, and Hindalco [Get Quote] shed 4.7% at Rs 139.

Reliance and Reliance Communications [Get Quote] declined 4.3% each to Rs 2,085 and Rs 490, respectively. ACC, too, was down over 4% at Rs 569.

Ranbaxy [Get Quote] slipped nearly 4% to Rs 475. NTPC and BHEL were down around 3.5% each at Rs 178 and Rs 1,592, respectively.

Tata Steel [Get Quote] and ONGC [Get Quote] dropped over 3% each to Rs 584 and Rs 982, respectively. Bharti Airtel [Get Quote] was down 2% at Rs 779.

...And The Movers

Hindustan Unilever surged nearly 3% to Rs 238. Sterlite gained 1.7% at Rs 592.

Most Active Counters

Reliance Capital [Get Quote] topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 313.40 crore followed by Larsen & Toubro (Rs 223.40 crore), Reliance (Rs 222.25 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 194 crore) and Reliance Natural Resources [Get Quote] (Rs 178.25 crore).

Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of around 1.98 crore shares followed by Himachal Futuristic (1.51 crore), IFCI (1.28 crore), Ispat Industries [Get Quote] (97 lakh) and Polaris [Get Quote] (83.35 lakh).