Sensex closes in red; capital goods stocks plunge (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian stock markets Monday closed in the red on profit-taking in capital goods, banks and automobile stocks.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 20,596.40 points, closed at 20,490.96 points, down 175.19 points or 0.85 percent from the previous day's close at 20,666.15 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 20,672.53 points and a low of 20,453.15 intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also declined. It ended at 6,078.80 points, down 61.95 points or 1.01 percent.

Heavy selling pressure was observed in capital goods, bank, automobile, oil and gas and metal stocks.

The S&P BSE capital goods index was down 221.60 points, followed by bank index which was lower by 177.53 points. Automobile index was lower by 154.88 points, oil and gas index lost 122.15 points and metal index was 115.79 points down.

However, healthcare index was up 38.30 points, followed by information technology (IT) index which was up 13.72 points and technology, entertainment and media (TECk) index which gained 4.03 points.

Prominent Sensex gainers were: Dr Reddy's Lab, up 2.91 percent at Rs.2,470.90; Tata Steel, up 1.25 percent at Rs.360.05; Maruti Suzuki, up 0.49 percent at Rs.1,585.70; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), up 0.25 percent at Rs.2,097.95; and Infosys, up 0.17 percent at Rs.3,363.10.

Prominent Sensex scrips which closed in the red included Hindalco Inds, down 4.29 percent at Rs.111.45; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), down 3.08 percent at Rs.943.60; ONGC, down 2.42 percent at Rs.270.60; State Bank of India (SBI), down 2.25 percent at Rs.1,705; and Tata Motors, down 2.04 percent at Rs.377.15.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 1.30 percent down while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was higher by 1.43 percent and the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.16 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.30 percent higher, while Germany's DAX Index was up 0.12 percent. The French CAC 40 Index was 0.28 percent higher.