The Sensex opened on a flat note at 9,254, but moved up to a high of 9,262 in early deals.
Selling commenced soon after, and the Sensex touched a low of 9,050 in late noon deals - an intra-day swing of 212 points.
The Sensex finally closed with a loss of 171 points (1.9%) at 9,086.
The Nifty lost 86 points to close at 2,750.
Bharti Tele slumped over 5% (Rs 18) to Rs 333.
Cement scrips cracked under selling pressure today. Gujarat Ambuja crashed 4.7% (Rs 4) to Rs 77. While ACC slipped 3% (Rs 16) to Rs 523, Grasim dropped Rs 33 (2.5%) to Rs 1,300.
Power stocks, too, wilted under profit-taking today. Tata Power dropped 3.8% (Rs 16) to Rs 419. Reliance Energy declined 3.5% (Rs 21) to Rs 578. BHEL slipped Rs 39 to Rs 1,327.
Infosys declined Rs 31 to Rs 2,950. Satyam was down Rs 16 at Rs 694. While TCS dropped Rs 9 to Rs 1,663, Wipro slipped Rs 8 to Rs 457.
SBI dropped 2.6% (Rs 23) to Rs 869. HLL lost over 2% (Rs 4) to Rs 189. While Reliance was down Rs 10 at Rs 832, ONGC declined Rs 6 to Rs 1,186.
Bajaj declined 2.8% (Rs 57) to Rs 2,023. Maruti was down Rs 12 at Rs 614.
ICICI Bank slipped 3.7% (Rs 21) to Rs 560. HDFC Bank declined 2.6% (Rs 19) to Rs 709. HDFC dropped 2.7% (Rs 32) to Rs 1,173.
L&T moved up Rs 6 to Rs 1,754. Cipla was up marginally at Rs 430.