Sensex, Nifty close in red; oil and gas stocks fall (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed Thursday's trade 251.07 points or 0.99 percent down as oil and gas stocks tanked.

The markets were cautious on the expiry day of the June derivatives and the deteriorating security situation in Iraq.

Heavy selling pressure was observed in oil and gas as the government Wednesday decided to defer for three more months a revision in domestic natural gas prices.

Bank and metal sector scrip too declined, while healthy buying was sustained in capital goods, consumer durables and automobile stocks gained on Wednesday's extension of excise duty cut till December.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 25,217.69 points, closed the day's trade at 25,062.67 points, down 251.07 points or 0.99 percent from the previous day's close at 25,313.74 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 25,309.33 points and a low of 25,021.23 points in the intra-trade.

The S&P BSE oil and gas index tanked 443.57 points, followed by bank index which dropped 197.99 points and metal index which was lower by 151.94 points.

However, capital goods index gained 139.36 points, consumer durables index rose by 60.32 points and healthcare index was up 36.67 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended 76.05 points or one percent down at 7,493.20 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Wipro, up 1.37 percent at Rs.535.65; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), up 1.33 percent at Rs.1,672.35; Dr Reddy's Lab, up 1.03 percent at Rs.2,504.80; Bharti Airtel, up 0.68 percent at Rs.338.65; and Axis Bank, up 0.66 percent at Rs.1,926.40.

The losers were: ONGC, down 5.89 percent at Rs.411.10; Reliance Industries, 3.70 percent at RS.1,011.95; NTPC, down 2.77 percent at Rs.152.45; Coal India; down 2.29 percent at Rs.388.60; and HDFC, down 1.82 percent at Rs.976.95.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.27 percent up, while China's Shanghai Composite Index ended 0.65 percent higher and Hong Kong's Hang Seng grew 1.45 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.02 percent up and Germany's DAX Index was higher by 0.02 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index gained 0.08 percent at the closing bell here.