Overnight weakness on the US markets saw the index commence on a flat note at 4,949. The markets, immediately after touching a high of 4,961, slipped into the red and remained subdued till early noon deals.

Selling across-the-board picked up momentum in mid-noon deals, and dragged the index below the 4,800 levels to touch a low of 4,854.

The Sensex finally wrapped the day with a huge loss of 83 points at 4,866. The Nifty shed 1.87% (down 30 points) to 1,550.

While only 4 Sensex stocks advanced, 26 declined on Friday. The volumes of shares traded and its value totalled 3.26 crore (32.6 million) and Rs 1,197.90 crore (Rs 11.98 billion), respectively.

Reliance came under sustained selling pressure, and dropped nearly 3% (Rs 13) to Rs 464. Over 25.70 lakh (2.57 million) Reliance shares changed hands on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 120 crore (Rs 1.20 billion). ITC and HLL ended with steady gains at Rs 855 (up Rs 2) and Rs 182, respectively. The FMCG counter clocked a volume of over 9.36 lakh (93.6 million) on the BSE.

SBI at Rs 458 (down Rs 8 or 2%) and BHEL at Rs 445 (down Rs 15 or 3%) displayed downward trends on sustained selling pressure. More than 16 lakh (1.6 million) SBI shares were traded on the BSE with a value of Rs 77 crore (Rs 770 million). HPCL, however, ended with marginal gains at Rs 337.

Infosys slipped heavily in afternoon trades to finish 2% lower (Rs 114) at Rs 4,613. While Satyam slumped 4% (Rs 13) to Rs 311 on volumes of over 74.89 lakh (7.49 million) on the BSE, Wipro was down Rs 6 at Rs 1,413.

Grasim (down 4% or Rs 34 to Rs 890), L&T (down 5% or Rs 20 to Rs 391), ACC (down 2% or Rs 5 to Rs 223) and Gujarat Ambuja (down 2% or Rs 4 to Rs 262) ended with steep losses.

Tata Motors shed nearly 3% (Rs 10) to Rs 364. The auto major clocked a volume of over 27.72 lakh (2.77 million) on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 102 crore (Rs 1.02 billion). Bajaj at Rs 927 (down Rs 12) and Hero Honda at Rs 379 (down Rs 6) ended down a per cent each.

Cipla and Ranbaxy scaled down 2% each to Rs 1,131 (down Rs 20) and Rs 972 (down Rs 22), respectively. Dr. Reddy's also ended with a modest loss of Rs 5 at Rs 1,267.

Hindalco at Rs 1,181 (down Rs 13), ONGC at Rs 623 (down Rs 17 or 3%), Tisco at Rs 350 (down Rs 6), ICICI Bank at Rs 245 (down Rs 4) and Zee at Rs 134 (down Rs 6 or 4%) succumbed to heavy losses. The steel major Tisco surged to a volume of over 64.10 lakh (6.41 million) on the BSE with a value of Rs 229 crore (Rs 2.29 billion).

Bharti, however, managed to garner gains, and moved up 2% to Rs 85. The cellular major clocked a volume of over 23.15 lakh (2.31 million) on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 19 crore (Rs 190 million).

Geometric lost 5% (Rs 22) to Rs 426. Digital, Hughes and Mastek were down 3% each at Rs 549 (down Rs 15), Rs 448 (down Rs 17) and Rs 225 (down Rs 8), respectively. i-flex, however, closed up a per cent (Rs 8) at Rs 693.

Sri Adhikari slumped 6% (Rs 4) to Rs 67. While Padmalaya Telefilms and Saregama dropped 5% each to Rs 81 (down Rs 4) and Rs 51 (down Rs 3), Mukta Arts lost 2% to Rs 57. Balaji Tele, however, was up a per cent at Rs 72.