Sensex down for fifth day; falls 147 points

Mumbai : A benchmark index for Indian equities markets Thursday closed in the red for the fifth straight trading session, falling 147 points due to selling pressure in technology and metal stocks.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened deep in the red at 18,590.07 points, ended the day at 18,471.37 points, down 0.79 percent or 147.50 points from its previous close at 18,618.87 points.

This is the lowest closing level of Sensex in the past two weeks. The benchmark index touched a high of 18,593.54 points and low of 18,408.69 points in the intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange slumped 0.63 percent or 35.95 points at 5,631 points.

There was heavy selling pressure in IT, metal, FMCG and auto stocks. IT index of the Bombay Stock Exchange slumped 1.79 percent at 5645.08 points. Metal index dropped 1.66 percent, FMCG index fell 1.30 percent and auto index closed 0.88 percent down.

The major Sensex losers were Tata Steel, down 2.66 percent at Rs.375.75; ITC, down 2.57 percent at Rs.276.55; Jindal Steel, down 2.32 percent at Rs.368.75; TCS, down 2.23 percent at Rs.1,295.55; and Wipro, down 2.19 percent at Rs.361.35.

Only eight of the 30 Sensex scrips closed in the positive.

The country’s largest telecom firm Bharti Airtel surged 2.95 percent at Rs.291 as lower than expected price in the 2G spectrum auction cheered investors’ confidence in the market.

BHEL, up 1.01 percent at Rs.234.50; HDFC, up 0.88 percent at Rs.788.70; Hindustan Unilever, up 0.81 percent at Rs.533.45; and Coal India, up 0.59 percent at Rs.348 were among the major Sensex gainers.

Markets fell across the world due to persistent worries over the US fiscal situation.

Among the other Asian markets Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.55 percent at 21,108.93 points. China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.22 percent at 2,030.29 points. However, Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.90 percent at 8,829.72 points.

Most European markets were in the red. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.60 percent. The German DAX was trading lower 1 percent and the French CAC 40 index was 0.60 percent down.