Sensex closes 150 points lower; oil and gas stocks plunge (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities market closed nearly one percent down Monday on the back of slow economic recovery and heavy selling pressure in the Asian markets.

India's economic growth slumped to a decade-low of 5 percent in the financial year ended March 31, 2013, due to poor show of mining and farm sectors, official data showed Friday.

According to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the country's gross domestic product (GDP) registered a feeble recovery in January-March quarter, posting a growth of 4.8 percent. It had expanded by 4.7 percent in the previous quarter.

There was also heavy selling pressure in the Asian markets on the back of concerns over the continuation of US stimulus package and weak growth in the Chiness economy.

There was heavy selling pressure on the oil and gas, bank, automobile, capital goods and consumer durables stocks. However, information technology (IT), technology, media and entertainment (TECk) scrips gained.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,859.22 points, closed at 19,610.48 points, down 149.82 points or 0.76 percent from its previous day's close at 19,760.30 points.

Sensex touched a high of 19,860.19 points and a low of 19,541.97 points in intra-day trade.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended 0.78 percent or 46.65 points down at 5,939.30 points.

The oil and gas index went down by 159.06 points, automobile index was down 94.08 points, the capital goods index dipped 92.73 points, the bank index was down by 78.57 points and the consumer durables index slid 75.92 points.

The S&P BSE IT index was up at 61.55 points, while the TECk index surged 39.82 points and metal index was up 32.17 points.

The prominent Sensex gainers were: Infosys, up 4.42 percent at Rs.2,513.95; Jindal Steel, up 2.25 percent at Rs.290.60, Tata Steel, up 1.64 percent at Rs.296.60, Gail India, up 1.42 percent at Rs.311.30 and State Bank of India (SBI), up 1.07 percent at Rs.2,069.70.

Among the main losers were Hero MotoCorp, down 3.65 percent at Rs.1,667.55; Bajaj Auto, down 3.32 percent at Rs.1,762.20; ONGC, down 2.85 percent at Rs.317.55; Sun Pharma, down 2.68 percent at Rs.1,017.50; and HDFC, down 2.40 percent at Rs.868.90.

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was 3.72 percent lower, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng went 0.49 percent down. China's Shanghai Composite Index was trading 0.06 percent lower.

Major European markets like Britain's FTSE 100 was trading 0.18 percent lower, while German DAX was up 0.40 percent. The French CAC 40 was 0.63 percent higher.