Sensex falls for third day, bank stocks lose (Roundup)

For the third straight day, a benchmark index of Indian stock markets closed in the negative territory Thursday after global ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) maintained "negative" outlook on India's sovereign ratings.

The agency also threatened to cut India's sovereign ratings below investment grade if "policy drift" continued under the new government after the 2014 general elections.

There was also profit-taking in banking, consumer durables and capital goods stocks.

The downfall in the benchmark comes just days after it had crossed highest closing mark ever in the special Diwali trading held Sunday at 21,239.36 points.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 20,896.13 points, closed at 20,822.77 points, down 72.17 points or 0.35 percent from the previous day's close at 20,894.94 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 21,142.85 points and a low of 20,797.06 intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also declined. It ended at 6,187.25 points, down 27.90 points or 0.45 percent.

Heavy selling pressure was observed in bank, consumer durables and capital goods stocks.

The S&P BSE bank index was down 272.33 points, followed by consumer durables index which was lower by 137.76 points and capital goods index, which lost 128.21 points.

However, information technology (IT) index was up 105.44 points, followed by metal index which was up 58.97 points and technology, entertainment and media (TECk) index which gained 29.12 points.

Prominent Sensex gainers were: Tata Steel, up 3.64 percent at Rs.345.70; Infosys, up 1.61 percent at Rs.3,359.15; Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), up 1.41 percent at Rs.2,121.15; Bajaj Auto, up 1.12 percent at Rs.2,101.60; and Hindalco Inds, up 1.04 percent at Rs.116.70.

Prominent Sensex scrips which closed in the red included BHEL, down 4.27 percent at Rs.134.45; State Bank of India (SBI), down 3.17 percent at Rs.1,752.25; Tata Motors, down 2.76 percent at Rs.380.10; ICICI Bank, down 2.70 percent at Rs.1,015.10; and Tata Power, down 2.44 percent at Rs.82.05.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.76 percent down, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was lower by 0.68 percent, and China's Shanghai Composite index lost 0.48 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.23 percent lower, and Germany's DAX Index was up 0.05 percent. The French CAC 40 Index closed the day's trade 0.15 percent down.