With the mood turning almost negative following a weak start on the Christian bourses, stocks cutting across sectors have drifted down from their higher levels with many of them even slipping into the red. As a result, the sale breadth, which remained pretty strong earlier in the day, has turned quite negative now.

Out of 2,746 stocks seen in action on BSE now, as many as 1671 stocks are down in the negative territory. 1034 stocks hold on in the positive zone and 41 stocks trade flat.

Midcap stock Deccan Chronicle Holdings has tumbled 6% to Rs 210.80. KPIT Cummins, which posted a hefty gain yesterday, is down with a sharp loss of 4.9% at Rs 134.60. DCM Shriram, EID Parry, Bongaigaon Refinery, Hinduja TMT, Infotech Enterprises, Binani Cements and Wire & Wireless have lost 4% - 5%.

Rolta India, Nucleus Software, Advanta, HMT, TVS Motor, Shopper's Stop, Balaji Telefilms, KEC International, Coromandel Fertilizers, GTL Infrastructure and Gujarat State Fertilizers are among the other major losers in the midcap space.

Among Sensex components, NTPC and Maruti Udyog are the worst hit. While the former has lost around 2.45%, the latter is down with a sharp loss of 2.2%. Ranbaxy Laboratories, Bajaj Auto, Hindustan Unilever, ACC, Cipla, Wipro, Grasim Industries, Reliance public-relations, Satyam Computer Services, BHEL, Tata Consultancy Services, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bharti Airtel are also down with sharp losses.