Sensex falls for second consecutive day (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed Wednesday's trade down 207 points or 0.76 percent as consumer durables, oil and gas and capital goods stocks slipped.

Heavy selling pressure was seen in oil and gas, consumer durables and capital goods, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and information technology (IT) sectors, while marginally healthy buying was observed in bank, power and realty sectors.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 27,230.94 points, closed the day's trade at 27,057.41 points, down 207.91 points or 0.76 percent from the previous day's close at 27,265.32 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 27,251.44 points and a low of 27,018.11 points in the intra-trade.

The S&P BSE oil and gas index was down 172.78 points, capital goods index slid by 154.21 points, consumer durables index dropped by 153.22 points, FMCG index fell by 111.55 points and IT index slipped by 110.98 points.

However, realty index was higher by 10.74 points and power index rose 2.24 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also was trading 58.85 points or 0.72 percent down at 8,094.10 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Sesa Sterlite, up 1.62 percent at Rs.286.25; Tata Power, up 1.58 percent at Rs.89.90; ICICI Bank, up 1.53 percent at Rs.1,571.40; Bajaj Auto, up 1.12 percent at Rs.2,351.35; and Bharti Airtel, up 0.43 percent at Rs.407.80.

The losers were: Hero MotoCorp, down 2.44 percent at Rs.2,682.15; ITC, 1.85 percent at Rs.351.05; Infosys, down 1.84 percent at Rs.3,668.10; Coal India, down 1.80 percent at Rs.373.85; and Reliance Industries down 1.67 percent at Rs.1,016.

In Asian markets, Nikkei closed 0.25 percent up, while Hong Kong's Hang Sang closed 1.93 percent lower. However, China's Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.35 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was up 0.04 percent, Germany's DAX Index was 0.10 percent lower, and France's CAC 40 was fell by 0.03 percent.