Sensex closes flat; automobile stocks down (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets ended Monday's trade flat - as automobile, capital goods, metals and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks dipped.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 22,717.59 points, closed the day's trade at 22,613.61 points, down 56.46 points or 0.25 percent from the previous day's close at 22,688.07 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 22,721.36 points and a low of 22,597.19 points in trade.

Heavy selling pressure was in automobile, capital goods, metal, FMCG and oil and gas stocks, while healthy buying support sustained healthcare, banks, realty, consumer durables and power scrips.

The automobile index of the BSE fell 132.47 points, followed by capital goods index which edged lower by 127.47 points, metal index was down 55.79 points, FMCG index was lower by 28.47 points and power index was down 0.59 points.

However, the healthcare index rose 175.23 points, while the bank index was up 53.94 points, realty index increased by 8.46 points, consumer durables index grew by 5.37 points and power index was 0.59 points up.

The wider 50-scrip S&P Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too ended in the red. It closed 21.50 points or 0.32 percent up at 6,761.25 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Cipla, up 3.15 percent at Rs.406.65; Sun Pharma, up 1.99 percent at Rs.635.20; Wipro, up 1.79 percent at Rs.529.05; Dr Reddy's Lab, up 1.77 percent at Rs.2,672.35; and State Bank of India (SBI), up 1.06 percent at Rs.2,105.30.

Major Sensex losers included: Gail India, down 2.31 percent at Rs.371.30; BHEL, down 2.10 percent at Rs.186.75; Hero MotoCorp, down 1.81 percent at Rs.2,164; Tata Motors, down 1.72 percent at Rs.416.50; and Larsen and Toubro (L&T), down 1.60 percent at Rs.1,329.25.

Among Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed lower at 0.98 percent but China's Shanghai Composite Index was lower by 1.62 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was, meanwhile, down by 0.41 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.43 percent up, Germany's DAX Index was higher by 0.81 percent and the French CAC 40 Index had gained by 0.57 percent when markets closed here.