Sensex ends in red; oil and gas stocks fall (Roundup)

A benchmark index of the Indian equities market Thursday closed 17.46 points or 0.07 percent lower after resuming trade post-noon.

Trading was hit by a technical snag for nearly three hours. "The market closure duration from 9.42 a.m. till 12.45 p.m. was approximately 3 hours and 3 minutes," the BSE said in a statement.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 25,875.75 points, closed trade at 25,823.75 points (provisional), down 17.46 points or 0.07 percent from the previous day's close at 25,841.21 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 25,999.08 points and a low of 25,801.00 points in the intra-trade.

Healthy buying was observed in healthcare, automobile, and consumer durables stocks. However, buying pressure was sustained in oil and gas, metal and bank scrips.

The S&P BSE healthcare index surged by 130.13 points, followed by automobile index which gained 126.99 points and consumer durables index went up by 53.85 points.

The oil and gas index was, however, down 133.55 points, metal index was lower by 74.58 points, and bank index fell 49.39 points.

The benchmark index had hit a new record high of 25,864.53 points Wednesday before closing at a new high of 25,841.21 points on the hopes of a fiscally prudent and growth oriented budget on Wednesday.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed the trade in red. It closed 10.35 points or 0.13 percent down at 7,714.80 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Tata Motors, up 3.03 percent at Rs.468.80; Wipro, up 2.58 percent at Rs.555.60; Sun Pharma, up 1.79 percent at Rs.706.35; Mahindra and Mahindra, up 1.41 percent at Rs.1,235.95; and Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), up 0.86 percent at Rs.2,417.75.

The losers were: Hero MotoCorp, down 3.17 percent at Rs.2,589.40; Hindalco Inds, down 2.47 percent at Rs.173.75; Bajaj Auto, down 2.39 percent at Rs.2,295.35; ONGC, down 1.99 percent at Rs.418.20; and Tata Power, 1.88 percent at RS.106.90.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.14 percent down, China's Shanghai Composite Index ended 0.19 percent higher and Hong Kong's Heng Seng closed 0.08 percent down.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.48 percent up, and French CAC 40 Index gained 0.69 percent. However, Germany's DAX Index was trading 0.35 percent higher at the closing bell here.