Sensex ends 120 points down; consumer durables, capital goods stocks plummet

Mumbai  :  A benchmark index for Indian equities markets closed 120 points lower in Tuesday’s trade as consumer durables, capital goods and bank stocks came under selling pressure.

The 30-share index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Sensex, which opened at 20,102.43 points, closed at 19,981.57 points — down 120.25 points or 0.60 percent from its previous close at 20,101.82 points.

The Sensex touched an intra-day high of 20,156.86 points and a low of 19,952.91 points.

The midcap index was down 65.34 points, while the smallcap index was lower by 59.37 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed 33.80 points or 0.56 percent at 6,048.50 points.

Among the losers, consumer durables was down 148.83 points, while the capital goods index fell 91.76 points and bank index dropped 84.90 points.

The major Sensex gainers were Sun Pharma, up 1.55 percent at Rs.710.50; NTPC, up 1.45 percent at Rs.164.10; Jindal Steel, up 0.53 percent at Rs.426.50; Mahindra and Mahindra, up 0.41 percent at Rs.885.20; and Bajaj Auto, up 0.37 percent at Rs.2,061.80.

The main losers were Gail India, down 4.47 percent at Rs.370.80; Hindustan Unilever, down 2.88 percent at Rs.481.55; Hindalco Inds, down 2.44 percent at Rs.119.75; Tata Motors, down 1.46 percent at Rs.318.30; and State Bank of India (SBI), down 1.34 percent at Rs.2,464.35.

Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei index was down 0.35 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended 0.29 percent higher. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.56 percent.

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.04 percent, while the German DAX was trading 0.37 percent lower. The French CAC 40 was down 0.21 percent.