Sensex closes 98 points down; oil and gas stocks drop

Snapping a five-session winning streak, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets Monday closed trading 98.15 points or 0.37 percent down as oil and gas stocks slumped.

Selling pressure was seen in oil and gas, auto and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sectors, while good buying was observed in consumer durables, capital goods and banking sectors.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 26,959.57 points, closed at 26,752.90 points, down 98.15 points or 0.37 percent from the previous day's close at 26,851.05 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 26,994.96 points and a low of 26,726.84 points in the intra trade.

The S&P BSE oil and gas index fell by 156.21 points, auto index went down by 142.52 points and FMCG index dropped by 78.47 points.

However, consumer durables index gained 203.75 points, capital goods moved up by 106.01 points and bankex inched up by 91.37 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed trading 22.85 points or 0.29 percent down at 7,991.70 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: BHEL, up 4.98 percent at Rs.252; Dr. Reddy's, up 1.67 percent at Rs.3,105.50; and GAIL, up 0.85 percent at Rs.484.85.

The losers were: Hindustan Unilever, down 4.75 percent at Rs.721.90; Tata Motors, down 2.57 percent at Rs.503.65; and ONGC, down 2.17 percent at Rs.394.75.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei went up by 1.01 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 1.19 percent higher, and China's Shanghai Composite Index gained by 0.41 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was down by 0.47 percent and France's CAC 40 slipped by 0.69 percent, while Germany's DAX Index increased by 1.12 percent.