The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 12 points at 8,389, and touched a high of 8,396 in early deals.
And then the index started sliding - sustained selling towards the closing bell saw the index plunge to a low of 8,180 - a drop of 216 points from the intra-day high.
The Sensex finally closed with a decline of 175 points (2.1%) at 8,202.
The Nifty is down 53 points at 2,484.
ONGC dropped 3.6% (Rs 37) to Rs 992. Reliance lost Rs 11 to Rs 764, and SBI was down Rs 13 at Rs 911. While HLL declined Rs 3 to Rs 173, ITC was down Rs 3 at Rs 125.
Infosys declined Rs 23 to Rs 2,601. Satyam was down 2.7% (Rs 16) at Rs 570. TCS and Wipro also declined today.
Gujarat Ambuja plunged nearly 7% (Rs 5) to Rs 67. ACC dropped over 5% (Rs 24) to Rs 442. Grasim declined Rs 18 to Rs 1,211.
Maruti slipped 4% (Rs 25) to Rs 533. Bajaj lost 3% (Rs 54) to Rs 1,691. Hero Honda was down Rs 13 at Rs 689.
L&T crashed nearly 4% (Rs 56) to Rs 1,417. BHEL lost 3.5% (Rs 41) to Rs 1,135. Bharti slipped over 4% (Rs 15) to Rs 328.
While ICICI Bank dropped 3.5% (Rs 18) to Rs 507, HDFC Bank declined Rs 20 to Rs 658.
Ranbaxy, Hindalco, Reliance Energy and Tata Power also declined today.
Dr. Reddy's was up Rs 8 at Rs 905, and Tata Steel was up Rs 3 at Rs 379. HDFC was up a rupee at Rs 984.