Sensex down 60 points at 7,188

The market was bearish for almost the entire trading session today. After opening 15 points higher over its last close at 7,263, the market soon succumbed to losses in early trades.

While slide in the market continued, the index slipped below the 7,200-mark in late morning trades, before selective buying in heavyweights saw it erase most of its losses by mid-noon trades.

Selling, however, intensified towards the closing hours of the trading session, with steep fall in tech, banking and other select counters dragging the index to an intra-day low of 7,164 - down 99 points over the day's high.

The Sensex finally ended the session with its third straight loss at 7,188 - down 60 points. The Nifty was down 36 points at 2,185.

The breadth of the market, however, was positive. Of 2,556 scrips traded on the BSE, 1,303 advanced, 1,181 declined and 72 remained unchanged.

Infosys, continuing with its downtrend, plunged 3.13% (Rs 69) to Rs 2,134. TCS crashed 3.60% (Rs 46) to Rs 1,225, and Wipro dropped 1.84% (Rs 13) to Rs 696. Satyam was down 1.61% (Rs 8) at Rs 477.

ICICI Bank tumbled 3.94% (Rs 18) to Rs 446. SBI shed 2% (Rs 15) to Rs 712. HDFC Bank, however, was up a notch at Rs 645.

Hero Honda dropped 2.38% (Rs 15) to Rs 621. While Bajaj declined 1.37% (Rs 19) to Rs 1,370, Tata Motors was down 1.15% (Rs 5) at Rs 455.

ITC, however, soared 2.12% (Rs 37) to Rs 1,766, while Reliance Industries advanced 1.81% (Rs 11) to Rs 642.

L&T slumped 1.92% (Rs 24) to Rs 1,238, while Tata Power lost 1.40% (Rs 6) to Rs 402. BHEL, however, scaled up 2.25% (Rs 20) to Rs 898.

IT stocks shed ground today. Hexaware dropped 13.20% (Rs 16) to Rs 105. Rolta, Tata Elxsi, KPIT Cummins, Zensar Tech and Silverline Tech fell between 2-3%.

Capital Goods stocks attracted strong buying support. Honeywell shot up 5.49% (Rs 38) to Rs 736, and Astra Micro has gained 5% (Rs 83) to Rs 1,735. HMT, Amforge Industries, Fag Bearing and Alstom Project were up in a range of 1-2%.

CMC, which reported a 15% dip in its consolidated net, advanced 7.12% (Rs 36) to Rs 548.