Mumbai, Mar 7 : The 30-share sensitive index (sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange today opened with a huge negative gap of 330 points at 16,212 and shed 567 points before closing at 15,975.52.

Out of 2,710 stocks traded on the exchange, 2,384 declined, 295 advanced and the rest remained unchanged.

Reliance Energy (REL) slumped 13 per cent, Bajaj Auto plunged by over 11 per cent, ICICI Bank jumped down by seven per cent and Larsen & Toubro dropped 6.6 per cent.

Hindalco shed 5.8 per cent, while NTPC plummeted 5 per cent.

HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors slumped 4.5 per cent each and Ranbaxy shed over 4 per cent.

HDFC Bank and Wipro went southwards 3.7 per cent each, and DLF and ONGC were down nearly 3.5 per cent each.

Reliance Communications soared 3 per cent, while Hindustan Unilever and Bharti Airtel also posted gain. (ANI)