Sensex drops 183 points as banking scrips tank

After moving up for three consecutive days, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets Tuesday closed 183 points or 0.91 percent lower due to heavy selling pressure in banking stocks after the Reserve Bank of India announced harsh measures to control the rupee's slide.

Selling pressure was observed in banking index (bankex), capital goods, metal, realty and consumer durables. However, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and oil and gas sectors moved up.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,788.09 points, closed at 19,851.23 points, down 183.25 points or 0.91 percent from the previous day's close at 20,034.48 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 19,890.63 points and a low of 19,649.58 points intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended 1.25 percent or 75.55 points down at 5,955.25 points.

The S&P BSE FMCG index moved up by 127.36 points and oil and gas index inched up by 65.34 points. However, bankex plunged 651.36 points, capital goods index dropped 214.62 points, metal index slipped 147.73 points, realty dipped 90.37 points and consumer durables went down by 71.35 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: ITC, up 2.30 percent at Rs.360.15; Bharti Airtel, up 2.08 percent at Rs.321.25; Hindustan Unilever, 1.55 percent at Rs.623.30; and ONGC, up 1.28 percent at Rs.299.60.

The major losers were: ICICI Bank, down 5.61 percent at Rs.1,003.20; State Bank of India, down 4.57 percent at Rs.1,828.45; HDFC, down 3.88 percent at Rs.816.45; and Larsen & Toubro, down 3.42 percent at Rs.971.40.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei went up by 0.64 percent; Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up by 0.04 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index was up by 0.31 percent -- however, the South Korean KOSPI went down by 0.47 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.02 percent down; Germany's DAX Index was down by 0.16 percent and the French CAC 40 Index dropped by 0.41 percent.