Sensex sheds 834 points to close at 16,631

The Sensex opened 38 points lower at 17,427, and slipped deeper into red as the day progressed. Heavy selling in mid-noon trades saw the index plunge to a low of 16,458 - down 1,007 points from the previous close.

The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 834 points (4.8% ) at 16,631.

The NSE Nifty slipped over 5% (263 points) to 4,857.

The BSE market breadth was extremely negative - out of 2,737 stocks traded, 2,456 declined, 246 advanced and 35 were unchanged today.

INDEX SHAKERS...

Reliance Energy (REL) slumped over 19% (Rs 381) to Rs 1,582.

Reliance Communications tumbled 8.6% to Rs 590. Hindustan Unilever and Mahindra & Mahindra plunged 7.5% each to Rs 196 and Rs 597, respectively.

NTPC and SBI shed 6.7% each to Rs 190 and Rs 2,045, respectively.

L&T, Reliance and ITC dropped 6% each to Rs 3,312, Rs 2,275 and Rs 185, respectively.

BHEL, HDFC and ONGC slipped over 5% each to Rs 1,898, Rs 2,638 and Rs 941, respectively.

Bharti Airtel dropped 3.8% to Rs 849. Tata Steel and ICICI Bank were down around 3% each at Rs 726 and Rs 1,036, respectively.

...AND THE MOVERS

Satyam gained over 3% to Rs 424. Maruti advanced 1% to Rs 812.
 

Major Gainers			Major Losers
Name	Close	% Chg	Name	Close	% Chg
APW Pres	147.00	11.3	Today Writing	62.80	20.0
KEC Intl	776.05	9.5	Reliance Energy	1,582.30	19.4
VSNL	481.25	8.5	Conart Eng	31.05	18.8
Cosco India	34.30	8.5	Machino Pla	63.75	17.7
Jay Ushin	86.00	8.2	Zee News	49.15	17.7
(Close = Stock pirce at the end of day in Rs)

DISMAL DEBUT

Reliance Power was listed at Rs 548 - a 21.8% premium to its issue price of Rs 450. The stock hit a high of Rs 600, but soon plunged below its issue price. Unabated selling in noon deals saw the stock slide to a low of Rs 355. The stock finally ended with a significant loss of 17% (Rs 78) at Rs 372 on the BSE.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Debutant Reliance Power topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 2,640 crore followed by Reliance Energy (Rs 399 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 361 crore), Reliance (Rs 250 crore) and Reliance Petroleum (Rs 192 crore).

Reliance Power, also, led the volume chart with trades of nearly 6.40 crore followed by Reliance Natural Resources (2.68 crore), Ispat Industries (1.36 crore), Reliance Petroleum (1.24 crore) and Nagarjuna Fertlisers (93.80 lakh).