Sensex tanks 435 pts as bears run berserk

The bears have turned extremely aggressive this afternoon. Running berserk, they are seen trampling down stocks cutting across sectors, sending the benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty crashing down to sharply lower levels. 
Asian markets mostly ended higher today and the mood on the European bourses too is fairly positive at present. But sentiment back home is extremely weak today. With food inflation edging higher, a couple of scandals hurting sentiment and foreign institutional investors pulling out fairly heavily over the past few sessions, stocks are reeling under a severe bout of selling pressure this afternoon.
The Sensex, which crashed to 19,179.30, is currently at 19,261.59, down 434.89 points or 2.21% from Wednesday's closing mark. The Nifty is down with a loss of 136.05 points or 2.3% at 5767.65, slightly off the day's low of 5747.35.
Realty, automobile, metal, healthcare, bank and consumer durables stocks are having a free fall now. Mirroring sharp losses posted by consumer durables stocks, the BSE CD is now down by as much as 6.35%. BSE Realty, Auto, Metal, HC and Bankex are down 3.3% - 3.75%.
PSU, power and oil indices are lower by 2.4% - 2.6% due to heavy selling in several front line stocks from these sections. A host of capital goods stocks too are reeling under severe pressure. FMCG and telecom stocks are not spared either. A few stocks from the information technology space have managed to buck the trend.
Midcap and smallcap stocks are tumbling down sharply. The BSE Midcap index is down 4.5% and the Smallcap barometer, faring even worse, is down as much as 5.66% at present. The market breadth is very weak, with declines outscoring advances by almost 9 to 1.
Barring IT majors Infosys Technologies (0.65%) and Wipro (0.5%), all the other stocks in the Sensex are down in the red. In the Nifty, Axis Bank is the one giving company to Infosys and Wipro in the positive zone.
Reliance Infrastructure has tumbled by over 8%. Reliance Communications is down with a loss of 6.1%. Cipla, Hindalco and Sterlite Industries are down 5.2% - 5.7%. ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel and Reliance Industries have lost 3% - 5%.
ONGC, Jaiprakash Associates, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti Suzuki, DLF, Hero Honda, HDFC and BHEL are also down with sharp losses.


IDFC, Suzlon Energy, Kotak Bank, Ambuja Cements, Reliance Capital and Ranbaxy Laboratories are down 3% - 5%. Power Grid Corporation, Reliance Power, Siemens, SAIL and HCL Technologies have also declined sharply.