Sensex marginally down; oil and gas stocks up

A day after it gained 240 points on the back of positive macro economic data, a barometer index of the Indian equity markets was trading marginally down during the late afternoon session on Thursday.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) fell by 28 points or 0.10 percent during the late-afternoon trade session.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also trading flat during the session under review. It inched-down by 4.40 points or 0.05 percent at 8,448.65 points.

The 30-scrip S&P BSE Sensex, which opened at 28,100.38 points, was trading at 27,993.33 points (at 2.30 p.m.), down 27.54 points or 0.10 percent from its previous day's close at 28,020.87 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 28,115.96 points and a low of 27,933.24 points so far in the trade.

During Thursday's intra-day trade so far, healthy buying took place in oil and gas, automobile and bank sectors.

The S&P BSE oil and gas index rose by 88.80 points, automobile index rose by 84.39 points, and bank index was up by 36.44 points.

The S&P BSE metal index was lower by 75.24 points, followed by information technology (IT) index decreased by 46.19 points and healthcare index was down 11.34 points.