Sensex down 83 points; capital goods stocks plunge

A key index of the Indian equities markets Tuesday closed flat as a result of profit bookings and ahead of the key data on consumer price and wholesales index which will be released soon.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 21,191.27 points, closed at 21,171.41 points - down 83.85 points or 0.39 percent from its previous day's close at 21,255.26 points.

The benchmark touched a high of 21,215.75 intra-day and a low of 21,069.45 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too closed flat.

It ended in negative territory, down 24.95 points or 0.39 percent at 6,307.90 points.

There was heavy selling pressure in capital goods, automobile, oil and gas, metal and banks stocks in the day's trade. However, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks gained.

The S&P BSE capital goods index was down by 143.29 points, followed by automobile index which was lower by 130.92 points, oil and gas index was down 75.92 points, metal index closed Wednesday's trade 61.92 points down and bank index fell 51.35 points.

However, FMCG index closed 35.86 points higher.

Major Sensex gainers were: NTPC, up 2.43 percent at Rs.139.30; HDFC, up 1.63 percent at Rs.821.55; Coal India, 1.16 percent at Rs.288.75; ITC, up 0.99 percent at Rs.320.90; and Wipro, up 0.34 percent at Rs.518.25.

The main losers were: Tata Motors, down 3.25 percent at Rs.377.80; State Bank of India (SBI), down 2.59 percent at Rs.1,796.70; BHEL, down 2.17 percent at Rs.162.05; Bharti Airtel, down 2.15 percent at Rs.328.15; and ONGC, down 2.08 percent at Rs.291.75.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.25 percent down and China's Shanghai Composite Index was lower by 0.03 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.28 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.15 percent up, Germany's DAX Index was higher by 0.16 percent and the French CAC 40 Index gained by 0.14 percent.