Sensex down 212 points; metal, bank stocks fall

Mumbai  :  A benchmark index for Indian equities markets closed 211 points or more than one percent down Friday after profit booking and concerns over US “fiscal cliff”.

There was heavy selling in metal, bank, capital goods, auto, healthcare and oil and gas stocks.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,394.55 points, closed at 19,242.00 points, down by 211.92 points or 1.09 percent from its previous close at 19,453.92 points.

The BSE Sensex touched a high of 19,394.55 points and a low of 19,221.12 points intra-day. The BSE midcap index was down 104.07 points, while the smallcap index was lower by 109.35 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was down 68.70 points or 1.16 percent at 5,847.70 points.

According to analysts, markets were affected by concerns over raising of taxes and reining in deficit in the US. If unresolved due to a tug-of-war between Democrat president Barrack Obama and the Republicans, the issue may hamper US growth.

“Markets ended the week on a weak note on concerns over the ‘fiscal cliff’ issue in the US. Global markets were also weak on similar concerns,” said Dipen Shah, head, private client group research, Kotak Securities.

The BSE metal index closed 201.87 points down. The bank index ended lower by 192.60 points. And so were capital goods index, down 181.31 points, auto index, down 154.09 points, healthcare index, down 139.12 points, oil and gas index, down 129.53 points.

There were only two gainers in the 30 scrip Sensex. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was up 0.78 percent at Rs.1,258.10 and ITC went up 0.03 percent at Rs.287.80.

The major losers were Jindal Steel, 3.52 percent lower at Rs.454.25; Sterlite Inds, down 3.23 percent at Rs.116.95; Bharti Airtel, down 3.08 percent at Rs.307.15; Hindalco Inds, down 2.68 percent at Rs.129.15; and Sun Pharma, down 2.22 percent at Rs.729.85.

Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.99 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.68 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index closed lower by 0.69 percent.

The European markets were in red. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.69 percent while the German DAX was trading lower by 0.52 percent. The French CAC 40 was down 0.43 percent.

Photo : AFP