The Sensex opened above the 6,200 levels with a gain of 26 points at 6,229. The intra-day trade saw a huge swing of 204 points as healthy gains in select stocks in early deals lifted the index to an intra-day high of 6,249.
After remaining range-bound in the opening session, the sentiment turned bearish in afternoon trades and gained momentum towards the close as unabated selling pressure across-the-board dragged the index below the 6,100 levels to a low of 6,045.
The Sensex finally ended 2.10% lower (130 points) at 6,064.
The Nifty slipped from a high of 2,000 levels, and lost 1.90% (38 points) to close at 1,944.
Reliance slipped from higher levels, and ended 3% lower (Rs 20) at Rs 577. ITC was down Rs 3 at Rs 1,132. HLL, however, closed up a rupee at Rs 208.
SBI ended on a lacklustre note with a loss of 2% (Rs 14) at Rs 660. BHEL dropped 5% (Rs 31) to Rs 562. While HPCL lost 2.61% (Rs 12) to Rs 446, MTNL shed 3% (Rs 5) to Rs 146.
Infosys remained weak throughout the session, and closed with a loss of 2.55% (Rs 145) at Rs 5,553. While Wipro fell nearly 4% (Rs 63) to Rs 1,695, Satyam also ended weak with a loss of 5% (Rs 17) at Rs 345.
Grasim (down Rs 23 or 2% to Rs 1,174), L&T (down Rs 30 or 5% to Rs 560), Gujarat Ambuja (down Rs 14 or 4% to Rs 314) and ACC (down Rs 11 or 4% to Rs 259) ended with steep losses.
Tata Motors and Hero Honda dropped 4% each to Rs 489 (down Rs 19) and Rs 456 (down Rs 21), respectively. Bajaj shed 3% (Rs 32) to Rs 1,046.
Dr. Reddy's declined 2% (Rs 30) to Rs 1,348. While Ranbaxy lost 2% (Rs 19) to Rs 1,118, Cipla slipped a per cent (Rs 17) to Rs 1,328.