Sensex closes 245 points down; automobile stocks plunge

A key index of the Indian equities markets Thursday closed 245.80 points or 1.16 percent down, its third consecutive fall this week, as bearish sentiment was observed ahead of the retail inflation data which will be released later in the day.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 21,101.05 points, closed at 20,925.61 points - down 245.80 points or 1.16 percent from its previous day's close at 21,171.41 points.

The benchmark touched a high of 21,103.80 intra-day and a low of 20,901.47 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too closed flat. It ended in negative territory, down 70.85 points or 1.12 percent at 6,237.05 points.

There was heavy selling pressure in automobile, bank, metal, oil and gas and capital goods stocks in the day's trade.

The S&P BSE automobile index was down by 270.57 points, followed by bank index which was lower by 191.27 points, metal index was down 134.90 points, oil and gas index closed Thursday's trade 114.49 points down and capital goods index fell 103.55 points.

Major Sensex gainers were: Tata Power, up 3.84 percent at Rs.89.20; HDFC, up 1.15 percent at Rs.827; Gail India, 0.42 percent at Rs.345.45; and NTPC, up 0.36 percent at Rs.139.80.

The main losers were: Tata Motors, down 4.55 percent at Rs.360.60; ONGC, down 2.71 percent at Rs.283.85; Coal India, down 2.49 percent at Rs.281.55; ICICI Bank, down 2.36 percent at Rs.1,132.50; and Bajaj Auto, down 2.15 percent at Rs.1,951.25.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 1.12 percent down and China's Shanghai Composite Index was lower by 0.06 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.51 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.93 percent down, Germany's DAX Index was lower by 0.68 percent and the French CAC 40 Index lost by 0.29 percent.