Sensex closes 65 points down; bank scrips plunge

New Delhi  :  A benchmark index of Indian equities market closed one-third of a percent down Tuesday on continued selling from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and profit-booking.

There was heavy selling in bank, consumer durables, automobile, metal and information technology (IT) stocks. However, healthcare, capital goods and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) scrips gained.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,605.68 points, closed at 19,545.78 points, down 64.70 points or 0.33 percent from its previous day’s close at 19,610.48 points.

Sensex touched a high of 19,742.70 points and a low of 19,522.47 points in intra-day trade.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended 0.33 percent or 19.85 points down at 5,919.45 points.

The bank index went down by 134.13 points, followed by consumer durables index, down 102.22 points, the automobile index, down 50.87 points, the metal index, down by 34.55 points, and the IT index, down 27.78 points.

The S&P BSE healthcare index was up at 165.78 points, while the capital goods index surged 72.12 points and FMCG index gained 20.59 points.

The prominent Sensex gainers were: DrReddys Lab, up 1.88 percent at Rs.2,152.85; Cipla, up 1.83 percent at Rs.375.25; Wipro, up 1.60 percent at Rs.330.85; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), up 1.56 percent at Rs.1,409.20; and Mahindra and Mahindra, up 1.13 percent at Rs.984.35.

Among the main losers were Tata Motors, down 2.34 percent at Rs.306.45; State Bank of India (SBI), down 2.11 percent at Rs.2,026; Jindal Steel, down 1.98 percent at Rs.284.85; HDFC, down 1.61 percent at Rs.854.95; and Sterlite Inds, down 1.40 percent at Rs.91.40.

Photo  : AFP