The Sensex was in the red for the whole day. However, a freak trade, possibly in Reliance, saw the Sensex plunging over 600 points to a low of 16,318.
The index recovered immediately and finally ended with a loss of 373 points (2.3%) at 16,572 halting five days of ending in the green.
The Nifty ended down 116 points at 4,970 dropping below the 5,000 mark.
Chinese economic data dampened mood of overseas investors. The Nikkei in Japan dropped 0.5% to end at 9,711. Hang Seng shed 1.3% at 19,496.
All sectoral indices were in the red. Metal stocks declined 4% to 14,546. Realty, bankex and oil counters also saw some pressure as the indices dropped over 2% each.
BSE mid and small cap indices dropped 1.4% and 1% respectively.
Jaiprakash Associates slumped 6% to Rs 117.
Metal stocks were the major draggers. Sterlite tumbled 5% to Rs 629. Hindalco and Tata Steel dropped 4% each to Rs 143 and Rs 480, respectively. Jindal Steel slipped 3% to Rs 632.
Reliance Communications dropped 3.8% to Rs 139. Tata Motors was down 3.8% to Rs 725.
ICICI Bank and Reliance - heavyweights in the index- dropped 3% to Rs 838 and Rs 632, respectively.
HDFC, SBI, Reliance Infrastructure, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro and Bharti Airtel declined 2-3% each.
Other losers were DLF, ONGC, BHEL, Tata Power and Wipro.
However, Maruti Suzuki gained 2% at Rs 1259. Cipla added 1.6% to Rs 324.
The fertiliser space showed some movements today. NFL jumped 1% to Rs 110. Nagarjuna Fertilisers added 1% to Rs 30. Chambal Fertilisers soared 6.4% at Rs 62.
Airlines stocks had gained in morning trades on news of a fuel price cut. However, the stocks pared gains and ended in the red. Spicejet dropped 2% to Rs 56.Kingfisher was down 3.6% at Rs 43. Jet Airways slipped 2.4% to Rs 498.
HPCL added 0.5% to Rs 362. Indian Oil Corporation was up 1% at Rs 356.
BSE market breadth turned negative in noon trades. Out of 2898 stocks traded, 1795 declined while 1004 advanced.
VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS
Tata Steel topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 179.14 cr, followed by Reliance (Rs 159.24 cr), Hindustan Copper (Rs 148.39 cr), Educomp Solutions (Rs 124.39 cr) and Sesa Goa (Rs 82.65 cr).
The volume chart was led by DCB with trades of 18.05 million shares, IFCI (11.49 million), Shree Ashtavinayak Cinevision (10.83 million) and RNRL (6.61 million).
