The index tried to recover but could only manage to rebound in green for a brief while. The benchmark index then slipped to a low of 17,057 following profit booking in the banking and metal stocks.
The Sensex, however, recovered around 68 points from the day's low to end at 17,125, down 103 points
The NSE Nifty ended 36 points lower at 5,112.
Among the sectoral indices, metal index was the major loser, down 2% at 16,315 and bankex slipped 1.5% to 10,155.
The market breadth was positive, out of 2,888 shares traded, 1,505 advanced and 1,301 declined on the BSE.
INDEX SHAKERS...
Tata Steel dropped 4% to Rs 545. Sterlite and Hindalco were down 3% each at Rs 837 and Rs 142, respectively.
HDFC and ICICI Bank declined 2% each at Rs 2,728 and Rs 855, respectively.
...AND INDEX MOVERS
Maruti was the top gainer, up 2.5% at Rs 1,609. It was followed by Hero Honda, TCS, Wipro and Reliance Communications, up 1-2% each.
VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS
Tata Steel topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 177.14 crore. It was followed by Unitech (Rs 141.88 crore), DLF (Rs 128.02 crore), Suzlon Energy (Rs 120.46 crore) and Bharti Airtel (Rs 199.19 crore).
Cals Refineries led the volume chart with a turnover of 39.31 million shares. It was followed by Unitech (15.72 million), Suzlon Energy (14.19 million), IFCI (11.59 million) and Radhe Developers (8.27 million).
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