Among the gainers at this time were Reliance Communications, up 3.69 percent at Rs.273.75; Hero Honda, up 2.04 percent at Rs.1,566; ITC, up 1.28 percent at Rs.232.80, and Hindustan Unilever, up 0.88 percent at Rs.264.

The leading losers were: Sterlite, down 1.65 percent at Rs.645; ICICI Bank, down 1.27 percent at Rs.735.25; Tata Steel, down 0.92 percent at Rs.431.60, and Maruti Suzuki, down 0.9 percent at Rs.1,532.

Other important Asian markets were trading dull.

The Nikkei, a key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, was ruling 268.69 or 2.55 percent lower at 10,261.37 points.

At the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the benchmark SSE composite was ruling 0.51 percent down at 2,669.94 points.

The primary index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Hang Seng, was doing no better at 19,558.29 points, down 314.01 points or 1.58 percent.