Sensex closes down 438 points at 17,560

Following Thursday's fall of 717 points, the Sensex opened 34 points higher at 18,032, but soon slipped into negative zone on follow-up selling.

The selling pressure intensified in mid-noon trades, which saw the index tumble to a low of 17,226 - down 806 points from the day's open. Selective buying at lower levels saw the index recover some ground and eventually end the day at 17,560 - down 438 points.

The Nifty lost 136 points to close at 5,215.

In the process, the index today broke its 8-week winning streak with a loss of 4.7% (859 points). The index had gained a whopping 30.2% (4,228 points) in the previous eight weeks.

The market breadth was extremely negative today with declining stocks beat advancing shares in the ratio of 4:1 - out of 2,767 stocks traded, 2,185 declined, 549 advanced and 33 were unchanged today.

INDEX SHAKERS...

Reliance Energy (REL) plunged 16% (Rs 258) to Rs 1,333.

Hindalco and Maruti tumbled 6.5% each to Rs 175 and Rs 1,074, respectively.

BHEL slumped 6% to Rs 2,052, and Bharti Airtel dropped 5% to Rs 968.

Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC and ACC slipped around 4.5% each to Rs 728, Rs 175 and Rs 991, respectively.

Reliance, Larsen & Toubro and Ambuja Cements dropped 4% each to Rs 2,469, Rs 3,023 and Rs 140, respectively.

NTPC shed 3.5% at Rs 201. Grasim, Hindustan Unilever and Cipla declined around 2.5% each to Rs 3,501, Rs 205 and Rs 178, respectively.

HDFC dropped 2% to Rs 2,398. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were down 1.5% each to Rs 1,357 and Rs 1,024, respectively.

...AND THE MOVERS

Bajaj Auto, Reliance Communications and Tata Steel moved up around 2% each to Rs 2,512, Rs 727 and Rs 852, respectively.

ONGC gained 1.4% at Rs 1,108, and Infosys added 1% to Rs 1,908.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

United Spirits topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 782.30 crore followed by Reliance Energy (Rs 594.25 crore), Reliance (Rs 582.50 crore), HDFC (Rs 543 crore) and Reliance Communications (Rs 520.40 crore).

Debutant Saamya Biotech led the volume chart with trades of around three crore shares followed by Power Grid (2.72 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (2.63 crore), Reliance Petroleum (1.64 crore) and Tata Teleservices (1.59 crore).