Sensex sheds 213 points on profit booking

The Sensex opened in the positive at 17,004 but soon slipped into the negative territory. The BSE-benchmark touched a low of 16,712, down 293 points from the day's high on intense selling.

The Sensex finally ended at 16,785, down 213 points. The NSE Nifty settled at 4,989, down 66 points.

ICICI Bank was the chief dragger which attributed to 29 points on the Sensex, followed by Reliance (22 points) and SBI (19 points).

The market breadth was fairly negative, out of 2,820 shares traded, 1,672 declined and 1,065 advanced on the BSE.

All the sectoral indices ended on a negative note. The BSE realty index dragged the market, down 4.5%. It was followed by bankex and metal stocks, down above 1.5% each.

INDEX SHAKERS...

Jaiprakash Associates tumbled 4.5% to Rs 227 and Reliance Infrastructure slumped 4% to Rs 1,105, respectively.

DLF and Hindalco dropped 3.5% each to Rs 366 and Rs 129, respectively.

Reliance Communications, Sterlite, ICICI Bank and SBI slipped 2% each.

The other prominent losers were Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Hero Honda, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, ONGC and TCS were down 1-2% each.

...AND THE MOVERS

HDFC, ACC and Wipro were the marginal gainers, below 0.5% each.