Sensex closes nearly 200 points down (Roundup)

A day after it rallied by 330 points, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets came under heavy selling pressure and closed Tuesday's trade nearly 200 points down.

Ironically, the market's barometer had opened in green and made healthy gains of about 150 points during the pre-afternoon trade session.

Analyst said the sentiments were dampened on the last day of the winter session due to impending reform proposals and upcoming budget.

"Considering no major bills have been passed in the winter session and low FII participation, further gains in the market can be capped," said Vinod Nair, head-fundamental research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

"The fallout in the afternoon may be due to investors booking profits before expiry amidst updates on J&K election result. But considering the weights of J&K in Rajya Sabha seat composition, fallout is largely sentimental."

All sector-based indices of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed the day's trade in the red except for fast moving consumer goods (FMCG). Selling pressure took place in capital goods, metal, bank, consumer durables and oil and gas sectors.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 27,733.12 points, closed at 27,506.46 points, down 195.33 points or 0.71 percent from its previous day's close at 27,701.79 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 27,851.10 points and a low of 27,475.13 points in the trade so far.

The S&P BSE capital goods index fell by 225.48 points, metal index was lower by 203.02 points, bank index decreased by 148.32 points, consumer durables index declined by 134.05 points and oil and gas index slipped by 97.34 points.

However, FMCG index was higher by 6.08 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too closed in the red. It was down 57 points or 0.68 percent at 8,267 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: NTPC, up 2.88 percent at Rs.142.80; Bajaj Auto, up 1.99 percent at Rs.2,522.35; Cipla, up 1.82 percent at Rs.629.65; Bharti Airtel, up 1.69 percent at Rs.355.15; and Hero MotoCorp, up 0.79 percent at Rs.3,140.10.

The major Sensex losers were: Sesa Sterlite, down 3.15 percent at Rs.204.15, Tata Power, down 3.09 percent at RS.81.45; Tata Steel, down 2.15 points at Rs.395.15; HDFC, down 1.91 perecnt at RS.1,124.35; and Larsen and Toubro (L&T), down 1.72 percent at Rs.1,497.60.

--Indo-Asian News service

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