Mumbai : Ahead of industrial production data Tuesday, a benchmark index for Indian equities markets Monday closed flat as capital goods, information technology (IT) and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks came under sustained selling pressure.
The 30-scrip Sensex, which opened at 19,517.59 points, closed at 19,460.57 points, down 24.20 points or 0.12 percent from its previous close at 19,484.77 points.
The Sensex touched an intra-day high of 19,543.44 points and a low of 19,416.94 points.
The midcap index closed lower by 12.02 points, while the smallcap index fell 21.03 points.
The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was trading lower by 5.65 points or 0.10 percent at 5,897.85 points.
There was heavy selling pressure in capital goods, IT and FMCG stocks. However, healthcare, bank and public sector undertakings (PSU) scrips rallied.
Major indices like the capital goods index was down 81.95 points. And so were the IT index, down 21.60 points, and FMCG index, down 17.84 points.
The healthcare index was up 58.35 points followed by the bank index, up 48.16 points, and PSU index, up 34.33 points.
The major Sensex gainers were Cipla, up 3.62 percent at Rs.394.70; Dr Reddy’s Lab, up 2.45 percent at Rs.1,902.00; Hindalco Inds, up 2.14 percent at Rs.112.10; Sterlite Inds, up 2.07 percent at Rs.103.35; and Hindustan Unilever, up 1.88 percent at Rs.460.80.
Seventeen of the 30 Sensex scrips declined. These included Maruti Suzuki, down 1.64 percent at Rs.1,562.20; ONGC, down 1.61 percent at Rs.308.40; Jindal Steel, down 1.60 percent at Rs.406.05, Bharti Airtel, down 1.57 percent at Rs.316.05; and HDFC, down 1.27 percent at Rs.797.70.
Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.80 percent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended 0.16 percent up. China’s Shanghai Composite Index closed up by 0.57 percent.
In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.21 percent, while the German DAX was trading 0.05 percent lower. The French CAC 40 was up 0.52 percent.