F&O cues drag the Sensex; down 324 points

Mirroring mixed cues from the Asian markets, the Sensex today opened flat at 13,930. The index moved sideways for the first hour but failed to retain its firmness and slipped to a low of 13,519, down 685 points.

Brisk selling was witnessed in the Sensex after the European markets opened on a lower note.

Heavy profit booking took place in the market before the expiry of the F&O dragged the index into the negative terrain.The BSE Realty index shed 4% at 3,314 and the Bankex was down 3% at 7,605.

The Sensex finally ended 324 points down at 13,589. The NSE Nifty ended at 4,117, down 121 points.

The breadth was negative, out of 2,810 shares traded, 1,452 declined, 1,326 advanced and 32 were unchanged on the BSE on Tuesday.

Reliance Communications plunged 9.5% to Rs 291. Ranbaxy dropped over 8% to Rs 244.

Tata Motors slipped 6% to Rs 325.

NTPC, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel declined over 5% each to Rs 201, Rs 666 and Rs 770, respectively.

DLF, Larsen & Toubro, Jaiprakash Associates and Mahindra & Mahindra have shed 3-4% each at Rs 337, Rs 1,255, Rs 178 and Rs 610, respectively.

ITC, ONGC, Reliance, Tata Steel , SBI, Maruti, ACC, HDFC, Tata Power and TCS  were down 1-3% each.

AND THE MOVERS...

Hindalco on the other hand gained over 3% to Rs 80. Infosys was up over 2% at Rs 1,543 and Wipro advanced 1.5% at Rs 372.