Sensex falls for third consecutive day, Heathcare stocks fall (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed Thursday's trade in the negative territory down 61.54 points or 0.23 percent.

Heavy selling pressure was seen in healthcare, metal, oil and gas, consumer durables and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) sectors, while healthy buying was observed in automobile, capital goods, banks, power and information technology (IT).

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 27,143.22 points, closed the day's trade at 26,995.87 points, down 61.54 points or 0.23 percent from the previous day's close at 27,057.41 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 27,150.78 points and a low of 26,904.50 points in the trade so far.

The S&P BSE healthcare index was down 240.82 points, metal index slid by 136.66 points, oil and gas index dropped by 55.07 points, consumer durables index fell by 21.08 points and TECK index slipped by 6.71 points.

However, automobile index was higher by 116.03 points, capital goods index was up 101.87 points up, bank index increased by 52.88 points, power index gained 11.98 points and IT index rose 0.50 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed in negative territory. It was down 8.40 points or 0.10 percent down at 8,085.70 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: State Bank of India (SBI), up 1.90 percent at Rs.2,601.40; BHEL, up 1.53 percent at Rs.222.50; Hero MotoCorp, up 1.44 percent at Rs.2,720.80; Tata Power, up 1.11 percent at Rs.90.90; and Hindustan Unilever, up 0.92 percent at Rs.755.50.

The losers were: Sun Pharma, down 4.29 percent at Rs.822.80; ONGC, down 3.58 percent at Rs.429.35; Coal India, down 3.53 percent at Rs.360.65; Wipro, down 1.42 percent at Rs.574.35; and DrReddys down 0.96 percent at Rs.2,970.75.

In Asian markets, Nikkei closed 0.76 percent up, while Hong Kong's Hang Sang closed 0.17 percent lower. China's Shanghai Composite index too slipped 0.29 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was lower 0.41 percent, Germany's DAX Index was 0.01 percent higher, and France's CAC 40 lost by 0.27 percent.