Sensex down 163 points, FMCG stocks down

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Wednesday was trading 163 points down on profit booking -- a day after the benchmark index closed over 700 points to touch its largest single-day gain in four years.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened higher at 19,999.77 points, was ruling at 19,833.14 at trading around 2.15 p.m., down 163.95 points or 0.82 percent from its previous close at 19,997.09 points.

The benchmark Sensex surged to a high of 20,055.53 points and a low of 19,777.63 points in the intra-day trade.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also soared 0.34 percent or 20.30 points at 5,876.45 points.

Heavy selling pressure was observed in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), consumer durables, oil and gas, automobile, and banking sectors.

However, healthy buying support came into the metal, capital goods, healthcare, public sector undertakings (PSU) and realty stocks.

The S&P BSE FMCG index was down 103.58 points, followed by oil and gas index which was trading down 81.77 points, consumer durables index was lower by 80.96 points, automobile index was down 52.82 points and bank index declined by 52.46 points.

However, metal index was 209.72 points up, capital goods index was 51.52 points higher, healthcare index gained 47.17 points, PSU index was higher by 26.12 points and realty index was up 21.37 points.