The Sensex slumped on heavy selling - mainly at the technology, auto and FMCG stocks - today. The index, which opened with a positive gap of 30 points, moved up to touch a high of 11,703.

However, unabated selling in the market saw the index tumble to a low of 11,303 - down 400 points from the intra-day high. The index finally settled with a huge loss of 307 points (2.6%) at 11,356.

The Nifyt lost 98 points to close at 3,380.

This was the fourth steepest fall for the index since 1997. The highest one-day decline was recorded on 17 May 2004 when the index crashed 565 points to close at 4505.

The slump could be attributed to heavy selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the futures & options segment on Monday. FIIs were net sellers of nearly Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion).
 

Top 10 SENSEX DECLINES
DATE	OPEN	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	Chg
17-May-04	5,020.89	5,020.89	4,227.50	4,505.16	-564.71
4-Apr-00	4,907.41	4,907.41	4,666.95	4,691.46	-361.48
14-May-04	5,409.34	5,416.04	5,043.99	5,069.87	-329.60
12-Apr	11,693.15	11,702.77	11,302.78	11,355.73	-306.82
31-Mar-97	3,595.36	3,595.36	3,318.90	3,360.89	-302.64
29-Feb-00	5,827.81	5,903.49	5,383.61	5,446.98	-293.71
17-Apr-00	4,797.95	4,899.54	4,797.95	4,880.71	-291.42
2-May-00	4,736.02	4,737.68	4,344.51	4,372.22	-285.33
24-Jul-00	4,347.52	4,353.44	4,188.34	4,188.34	-275.32
22-Sep-05	8,480.62	8,519.60	8,186.13	8,221.64	-265.50

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