Following the hefty 1,814-point loss last week, the Sensex opened with a negative gap of 94 points at 19,014, and continued to drift deeper into red as the day progressed.
Relentless selling in the last session saw the index tumble to a low of 16,951 - down 2,063 points (10.8%) from the previous close. (Since the index had dropped over 10% after 1400 hrs, the circuit limit was placed at 15%).
Bargain hunting at lower levels saw the index recover some ground, and finally end at 17,605 - down 1,408 points (7.4%); the biggest-ever loss in absolute terms and also the first-ever four digit loss for the index.
While the Midcap Index plunged 1,012 points (11.4%) to 7,882, the Smallcap Index tumbled 1,249 points (10.3%) to 9,443.
The NSE Nifty shed 496 points (8.7%) at 5,209.
The BSE breadth was extremely negative - out of 2,810 stocks traded, 2,657 declined, 139 advanced and 14 were unchanged.
Index Shakers
Reliance Energy and ACC crashed around 16% each to 1,776 and Rs 728, respectively.
Bajaj Auto tumbled over 15% to Rs 2,064. NTPC slumped over 14% to Rs 206, and Reliance Communications plunged nearly 13% to Rs 613.
Hindalco and DLF dropped over 10% each to Rs 166 and Rs 904, respectively.
Grasim and Reliance slipped over 9% each to Rs 3,025 and Rs 2,544, respectively.
Tata Motors, BHEL and ONGC declined around 8% each to Rs 654, Rs 2,114 and Rs 1,114, respectively.
Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel and TCS shed 7.5% each at Rs 673, Rs 722 and Rs 836, respectively.
SBI and Hindustan Unilever dropped around 7% each to Rs 2,200 and Rs 200, respectively.
Larsen & Toubro, Ranbaxy and Cipla were down 6% each at Rs 3,689, Rs 363 and Rs 190, respectively.
ICICI Bank and HDFC declined nearly 6% each to Rs 1,173 and Rs 2,660, respectively.
Bharti Airtel, Infosys, ITC, Maruti, HDFC Bank, Ambuja Cements and Wipro were down 3-5% each.
Value & Volume Toppers
Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 663.60 crore followed by Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 491.70 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 466.40 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 456.80 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 340.50 crore).
Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of around 2.75 crore shares followed by Ispat Industries (2.55 crore), Reliance Petroleum (2.47 crore), Tata Teleservices (1.53 crore) and IFCI (1.49 crore).