The Sensex belled the day negatively following weak global cues and also because of concerns over the results of general elections.

Heavy selling action witnessed across the board with Metal, banking, IT and realty stocks topping the declining charts.

At 10:05 a. m., the benchmark Sensex dropped 270.98 points to 11,748.67, after touching a high of 11,774.04 and a low of 11,695.52.

The broad based Nifty slid 54.40 points to 3,580.85, after hitting a high of 3,631.90 and a low of 3,537.60.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index declined 1.10% and 1.27% respectively.

Mr. Sanjeev Patni, Head-Institutional Equities, Centrum Broking said, "From the market standpoint, any government that is stable should come to power. But as nothing clear as emerged on the final arrangement of seats, markets are expected to be volatile for some time."

Today, the 30-share index, BSE Sensex opened with a loss of 245.61 points, at 11,774.04.

Hardik Jain, technical analyst with ISJ Securities, said, "The Nifty momentum indicators have turned negative and the index may touch 3400 levels. Banking stocks look weak at this stage."

On global front, Asian stocks dropped as an unanticipated fall in US retail sales and a rejection in commodity rates dimmed the earnings viewpoint for electronics and metals manufacturers.

Nikkei plunged 251.40 points to 9,089.09, Hang Seng index dropped 555.74 points at 16,503.88 and Shanghai Composite shrank 48.93 points at 2,614.82 (10.10 a. m, IST).

European stocks declined as the Bank of England announced that the UK economic system confronts a slow recovery, US retail sales unexpectedly dropped, and earnings at ING Groep NV and Bulgari SpA disappointed investors.

FTSE 100 shrank 94.17 points, or 2.13%, to end at 4,331.37, CAC 40 fell 78.20 points, or 2.42%, to end 3,152.90 and DAX slumped 126.50 points, or 2.61%, to end at 4,727.61.

The gainers' list includes NTPC, which rose 0.18%.

On the other hand, ICICI Bank (5.39%), Tata Motors (4.44%), Sterlite Industries (India) (4.05%), Reliance Capital (4.04%), Hindalco Industries (3.73%), and Tata Steel (3.52%) were the major losers in the Sensex.