Mumbai, Feb 20: The 30-share sensitive index (sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Wednesday opened with a negative gap of 85 points at 17,991 and shed 458 points to close at 17, 617.

Out of 2,796 stocks traded on the exchange, 1,932 declined and 806 advanced.

Tata Steel and Maruti shed nearly five per cent each, while BHEL and Tata Motors plunged by 4.5 per cent.

ICICI Bank tumbled over four per cent and HDFC declined by 3.8 per cent.

Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance Communications jumped down by 3.5 per cent each.

Reliance declined by around 3 per cent.

TCS moved up one per cent. Infosys, Bajaj and Satyam posted gain. (ANI)