Sensex tanks 230 points, capital goods, oil and gas plummet

Mumbai  :  A benchmark index of Indian equities markets tanked 230 points Monday tracking global markets and on profit booking. Capital goods, oil and gas and banking stocks were the worst performers.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,969.19 points, closed at 18,708.98 points, 229.48 points or 1.21 percent down than its previous day’s close at 18.938.46 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 18,969.19 points and a low of 18,684.40 points in intra-day trade. The BSE midcap index was down 29.39 points, while the smallcap index was lower by 11.64 points.

On the sectoral front, the BSE capital goods index was down 306.73 points followed by oil and gas index, down 245.34 points, and the banking index, down 161.06 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was down 70.95 points or 1.23 percent and closed at 5,676.00 points.

Market analysts said Monday’s fall was due to weak global cues and also because of profit booking as the scrips had rallied sharply since last month on strong inflow of foreign money.

The major Sensex losers were RIL, down 4.51 percent at Rs.818.70; Hindalco Inds, down 3.52 percent at Rs.120.60; BHEL, down 3.44 percent at Rs.254.10; Larsen and Tuobro (L&T), down 3.09 percent at Rs.1,595.80; SBI, down 2.97 percent at Rs.2,269.85; and Tata Motors, down 2.87 at Rs. 272.30.

The main gainers were Sun Pharma, up 3.67 percent at Rs.708.90; Bharti Airtel, up 1.62 percent at Rs.270.15; Cipla, up 0.87 percent at Rs.367.30; Jindal Steel, up 0.79 percent at Rs.420.35; ITC, up 0.65 percent at Rs.277.50; and NTPC, up 0.32 percent at Rs.171.30.

Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.44 percent up while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended trading 0.89 percent down. Shanghai’s composite index also closed 0.56 percent lower.

In Europe, France’s CAC dropped 0.99 percent and Germany’s DAX dipped 1.21 percent each on concerns over the uncertainty in Greece and Spain despite the launch of euro zone’s permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Britain’s FTSE 100 index fell 0.66 percent.

Photo : AFP