Sensex closes 128 points down, BHEL, ICICI Bank shares hit

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Wednesday closed 128 points down in line with weak global bourses. Metal, capital goods and banking stocks were the worst performers.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,359.96 points, closed at 17,313.34 points, 0.73 percent or 127.53 points down from its previous day’s close at 17,440.87 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 17,411.67 points and a low of 17,250.80 points in intra-day trade.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 0.92 points down at 5,225.70 points.

On the sectoral front, the BSE metal index was down 256.28 points, capital goods index was down 242.96 points and the banking index was down 208.85 points.

The main Sensex losers were BHEL, down 4.98 percent at Rs.208; Jindal Steel, down 4.78 percent at Rs.336; ICICI Bank, down 3.56 percent at Rs.879.55; Tata Steel, down 3.42 percent at Rs.350.70; and Sterlite Inds, down 3.17 percent at Rs.93.20.

Axis Bank hit a three-month low and closed 3.56 percent down after Morgan Stanley downgraded the bank to underweight from equal weight.

The major gainers were Bharti Airtel, up 3.28 percent at Rs.257.85; Hindustan Unilever, up 1.84 percent at Rs.530.90; TCS, up 1.41 percent at Rs.1,361.15; and ITC, up 0.66 percent at Rs.268.

Other Asian markets closed in red. Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.09 percent down while Shanghai’s composite index ended 0.29 percent lower. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 1.47 percent down.

At closing bell here, trading was mixed in European markets. France’s CAC was down 0.16 percent while Germany’s DAX was up by 0.36 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.37 percent.