Sensex closes flat; auto, capital goods stocks plummet

Mumbai   :  A benchmark index for Indian equities markets closed 22 points lower Thursday on profit booking. Automobile, capital goods and consumer durables stocks came under selling pressure.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,511.41 points, closed at 19,453.92 points, down 22.08 points or 0.11 percent from its previous close at 19,476.00 points.

The BSE Sensex touched a high of 19,520.51 points and a low of 19,335.72 points intra-day. The BSE midcap index was down 14.77 points, while the smallcap index was lower by 28.65 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was also down 13.20 points or 0.22 percent at 5,916.40 points.

The BSE automobile index was down 87.89 points. The capital goods index ended 79.64 points lower and so did capital goods index, down 75.92 points.

However, the metals index rose 131.72 points, information technology (IT) index and technology, media and entertainment (TECk) index edged higher by 14.71 points and 11.63 points respectively.

Among the gainers were Hindalco Inds, up 2.59 percent at Rs.132.70; Jindal Steel, up 2.27 percent at Rs.470.80; Tata Steel, up 1.90 percent at Rs.431.40; Hindustan Unilever, up 1.55 percent at Rs.531.08; and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), up 1.27 percent at Rs.1,248.40.

The major losers were Sun Pharma, 1.99 percent lower at Rs.746.45; Mahindra and Mahindra, down 1.68 percent at Rs.951.70; Bajaj Auto, down 1.37 percent at Rs.2,113.55; Wipro, down 1.32 percent at Rs.380.50; and Larsen and Toubro (L&T), down 1.02 percent at Rs.1,616.75.

Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei was down 1.19 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.16 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index closed edged higher by 0.28 percent.

The European markets were trading flat. Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.07 percent while the German DAX was trading lower by 0.09 percent. The French CAC 40 was down 0.02 percent.

Photo  AFP