Sensex down 146 points; automobile stocks down

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Wednesday ended trade 146 points or 0.70 percent lower as sentiments were hit by the US federal reserve possibly tapering off its bond buying programme on the back of better-than-expected US job creation data.

The traders were also cautious on the outcome of the recent state elections.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 20,839.45 points, closed at 20,708.71 points, down 146.21 points or 0.70 percent from its previous day's close at 20,854.92 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 20,863.37 points and a low of 20,673.62 points intra-day.

The S&P BSE automobile index was lower by 128.93 points, followed by capital goods index was down 98.13 points and the bank index ended Wednesday's trade 73.52 points down.

However, BSE metal index closed 24.64 points up, information technology (IT) index was higher by 7.59 points and the power index was up 5.13 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed trade 40.90 points or 0.66 percent down at 6,160.95 points.

Major Sensex gainers were: Tata Power, up 2.44 percent at Rs.82; Wipro, 1.95 percent at Rs.491.60; Tata Steel, up 1.25 percent at Rs.414.30; Jindal Steel, up 1.07 percent at Rs.278.45; and Infosys, up 0.49 percent at Rs.3,365.

The main losers were: Hindalco Inds, down 2.50 percent at Rs.120.75; ICICI Bank, down 1.93 percent at Rs.1,065.15; ITC, down 1.86 percent at Rs.313.25; ONGC, down 1.66 percent at Rs.287.35; and Tata Motors, down 1.58 percent at Rs.393.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 2.17 percent down and China's Shanghai Composite Index was higher by 1.31 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.76 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.17 percent down, Germany's DAX Index was higher by 0.01 percent and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.12 percent.