Sensex closes 76 points down; IT stocks fall

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed Thursday's trade 76 points or 0.30 percent down as information technology (IT) and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) stocks fell.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 25,668.71 points, closed at 25,589.01 points (provisional), down 76.26 points or 0.30 percent from its previous day's close at 25,665.27 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 25,778.05 points and a low of 25,526.05 intra-day.

The Sensex had crashed 242 points in the previous trading session on negative global cues and caution in the banking stocks.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed in the red. It was down 22.80 points or 0.30 percent at 7,649.25 points.

Heavy selling was observed in information technology (IT), technology, TECK, capital goods, healthcare and bank stocks. However, healthy buying was seen in consumer goods and oil and gas scrip.

In Thursday's trade, the S&P BSE IT index was down 125.82 points followed by TECK index which was lower by 63.35 points, capital goods index lost 38.88 points, healthcare index fell 22.17 points and bank index moved down 17.43 points.

However, the S&P BSE consumer durables index gained 64.03 points and oil and gas index was up 49.10 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Tata Steel, up 0.96 percent at Rs.555.45; ONGC, up 0.88 percent at Rs.400.40; Mahindra and Mahindra, up 0.81 percent at Rs.1,246.75; Coal India, up 0.71 percent at Rs.362.60; and State Bank of India (SBI), up 0.43 percent at Rs.2,437.15.

The losers were: Infosys, down 1.68 percent at Rs.3,514.55; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), down 1.56 percent at Rs.2,470.20; Hindalco Inds, down 1.25 percent at Rs.189.25; Sesa Sterlite, down 1.18 percent at 284.75; and Tata Motors, down 1.16 percent at Rs.442.15.