Sensex sheds 238 points on metal meltdown

Mirroring negative cues from the overseas markets, the Sensex opened with a negative gap of 183 points at 14,718. The index tried to recover but could only manage to touch a high of 14,866.

A fresh round of selling, mainly in metal stocks, in the second half of day saw the index slide to a low of 14,610. The Sensex finally ended with a significant loss of 238 points at 14,663.

The market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,730 stocks traded, 1,722 declined, 931 advanced and the rest were unchanged.

METAL'S MELTDOWN. . .

The BSE Metal index slumped 5.5% (647 points) to 11,154.

Sterlite led the fall folowing the company's restrcuturing plan yesterday, The stock plummeted nearly 12% to Rs 508. Tata Steel plunged over 5% to Rs 535.

Jindal Steel, Gujarat NRE Coke, JSW Steel, SAIL, Hindustan Zinc, NMDC and Sesa Goa shed 4-8% each. 

INDEX SHAKERS. . .

Tata Power and Reliance Infrastructure dropped nearly 3.5% each to Rs 1,049 and Rs 1,035, respectively.

Bharti Airtel tumbled 3% to Rs 812. Reliance shed 2.8% at Rs 2,084.

HDFC slipped 2.5% to Rs 2,320. Jaiprakash Associates and ONGC declined 2.3% each to Rs 168 and Rs 1,077, respectively.

BHEL and Maruti dropped 2% each to Rs 1,711 and Rs 695, respectively.

TCS and ICICI Bank declined 1.7% each to Rs 851 and Rs 701, respectively.

. . .AND THE MOVERS

Grasim, ACC and Infosys were the notable gainers among the index stocks.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

Austral Coke topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 275.65 crore followed by Sterlite (Rs 212.85 crore), Reliance (Rs 204.30 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 184.30 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 159.60 crore).

IFCI led the volume chart with trades of 2.12 crore shares followed by Reliance Natural Resources (93.55 lakh), Tata Teleservices (72.60 lakh), Reliance Power (46.75 lakh) and Sterlite (40.65 lakh).