The bulls, who had taken a retreat on Monday after calling the shots for seven successive sessions, came back strongly this morning with a firm trend on the Asian bourses and fairly buoyant industrial output data turning them on. However, after staying rooted to the ring till an hour past noon, they started slipping away to the sidelines following a weak start in European markets. U.S. index futures drifted lower, suggesting a negative start for Wall Street.

From a high of 15,923.09, the Sensex plunged to 15,475.28 - the fall was incredibly swift - as stocks cutting across sectors gave up their gains and tumbled on heavy selling around mid afternoon. There were a few mild recoveries thereafter, but the barometer eventually ended the session with a sharp loss of 115.45 points or 0.74% at 15,551.19.

The Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange, which rose to 4735.90 in early afternoon trade, ended the day at 4625.35 with a loss of 36.75 points or 0.79%. The Nifty drifted down to a low of 4600.65 today.

The mood changed quite cautious this afternoon after Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said India's economic growth in the coming two quarters will be lower than April-June.

According to the data released by the government today, India's exports fell an annual 28.4% in July 2009 over July 2008 and imports fell 37.1%.

Realty stocks, which opened on a bright note and stayed firm for well over a couple of hours, ended with sharp losses today. Metal, power, capital goods and pharma stocks also declined sharply. Oil stocks were also seen struggling this afternoon.

Automobile stocks had a fairly good session thanks to reasonably good sales figures for August. Select information technology and FMCG stocks closed on a firm note. Bank stocks exhibited a mixed trend.

Midcap and smallcap stocks failed to hold early gains. Wilting under pressure, several stocks from these segments ended with notable losses today.

ACC lost around 3.6%. Sterlite Industries, HDFC, BHEL and Jaiprakash Associates ended lower by 2.25% - 3%. ONGC, Hindalco and Reliance Infrastructure lost close to 2%.

DLF, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Grasim Industries, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Industries also closed on a weak note.

Unitech, Cairn India, Siemens, SAIL, Ranbaxy Laboratories, ABB, Jindal Steel, Idea Cellular, Tata Communications, Axis Bank, Reliance Power and Reliance Capital were among the prominent losers in the Nifty index.

Maruti Suzuki rallied sharply and ended stronger by 7.65% on impressive sales figures. Tata Motors ended with a gain of 5.8%. Hero Honda moved up by 1.55%. Wipro, Reliance Communications, Hindustan Unilever and Infosys Technologies also ended on a firm note.

Procter & Gamble, MphasiS, Dabur India, Renuka Sugars, Canara Bank, Tech Mahindra, Indian Oil Corporation, Bosch, Balrampur Chini, Federal Bank and Suzlon Energy closed with sharp gains today.

Gujarat Minerals, Godrej Industries, India Bulls Real Estate, IFCI, Jai Corp, GE Shipping, Ispat Industries, Voltas, RECL, Punj Lloyd and Mundra Port declined sharply.

The market breadth was weak. Out of 2871 stocks traded on BSE today, 1658 stocks declined and 1151 stocks closed with gains. 62 stocks ended flat