Sensex down 141 points, metal stocks plunge

Opening after an extended weekend holiday, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets Tuesday traded 141 points down as metal, capital goods and healthcare stocks fell.

However, healthy buying was observed in automobile, realty, information technology (IT) and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) sectors.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 26,487.51 points, was trading at 26,426.33 points (at 12.40 p.m.) trade session, down 141.66 points or 0.53 percent from the previous day's close at 26,567.99 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 26,570.38 points and a low of 26,376.96 points in the trade so far.

The S&P BSE metal index was down 205.37 points, followed by capital goods index which was lower by 158.87 points, healthcare index lost 107.01 points, consumer durables index decreased by 76.81 points and bank index fell by 65.69 points.

However, automobile index was up 31.72 points, realty index gained 12.77 points, TECK index increased by 5.12 percent and IT index was up 2.74 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also trading in the red. It was down 42.75 points or 0.54 percent at 7,902.80 points.