Sensex down 191 points; metal stocks plunge

A day after it rebounded around 400 points, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets Friday fell 191 points or 0.72 percent in the early morning session as automobile, metal and bank stocks plunged.

Heavy selling pressure was observed in capital goods, consumer durable, oil and gas and healthcare stocks. However, healthy buying was observed in information technology (IT) and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) scrip on the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P BSE, which opened at 26,551.74 points, was trading at 26,445.94 points (at 9.30 a.m.) in the early morning trade session, down 191.34 points or 0.72 percent from the previous day's close at 26,637.28 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 26,555.92 points and a low of 26,380.47 points in the trade so far.

The S&P BSE metal index was down 208.28 points, followed by automobile index which was lower by 203.46 points, bank index lost 169.05 points, capital goods index decreased by 162.55 points, consumer durable index fell 110.24 points and oil and gas index moved down by 92.18 points.

However, IT index was up 105.20 points, followed by TECK index index which gained 32.19 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also down. It fell 92.60 points or 1.16 percent at 7,867.95 points.