The markets displayed volatile movements through the session, as the index which kicked off with a gain of 36 points at 5,794 and registered further gains on all-round buying support to touch a high of 5,853, slipped in late morning deals.

The afternoon session saw the index oscillate between positive and negative zone. The markets witnessed a steep fall towards the closing deal as a wave of selling pressure in old and new economy stocks dragged the index below the 5,600 levels to a low of 5,568.

After moving in an intra-day range of 285 points, the Sensex crashed for the third consecutive session, and ended with a huge loss of 164 points at 5,594.

The Nifty slipped below the 1,800 levels, and ended 55 points lower at 1,770.

Reliance witnessed sharp fall in its counter, and crashed 3.30% (Rs 18) to Rs 533. While ITC declined 2.86% (Rs 32) to Rs 1,078, HLL slumped 3.60% (Rs 7) to Rs 193.

SBI (down Rs 12 or 2% to Rs 583), BHEL (down Rs 9 or 1.82% to Rs 512), HPCL (down Rs 8 or 2% to Rs 414) and MTNL (down Rs 5 or 3.56% to Rs 133) ended deep into the red.

Infosys slipped from higher levels to finish with a loss of 3.66% (Rs 197) at Rs 5,174. Wipro ended down a per cent (Rs 15) at Rs 1,636.

Satyam, which reported a 34% increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 133.48 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2003 as against Rs 99.27 crore in Q3FY03, closed up a rupee at Rs 313 on the BSE.

ACC dipped 4.26% (Rs 10) to Rs 230. While Gujarat Ambuja shed 2% (Rs 5) to Rs 276, Grasim and L&T closed down a per cent each at Rs 1,085 (down Rs 9) and Rs 501 (down Rs 7), respectively.

Bajaj slipped below the Rs 1,000 mark on relentless selling pressure, and shed 9.11% (Rs 94) to close at Rs 941. Hero Honda declined 5.36% (Rs 24) to Rs 427.

Tata Motors, which reported a 178% increase in net profit at Rs 210.88 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2003 as against Rs 75.71 crore in Q3FY03, ended with a sharp loss of 9.08% (Rs 42) to Rs 417.

Hindalco at Rs 1,273 (down Rs 55 or 4.18%), ONGC at Rs 731 (down Rs 11 or 1.52%) and BSES at Rs 476 (down Rs 24 or 4.71%) ended at lower levels.

Ranbaxy dropped 3.48% (Rs 36) to Rs 1,011. While Cipla lost 2.15% (Rs 28) to Rs 1,269, Dr. Reddy's ended with a marginal loss of Rs 5 at Rs 1,337.

Tata Power bucked the downtrend, and moved up 2.76% (Rs 10) to Rs 361. Tisco lost 5.59% (Rs 23) to Rs 394.

Zee fell 5.71% (Rs 9) to Rs 143.