Sensex, Nifty end in red; capital goods stocks fall (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed 55 points or 0.22 percent lower Wednesday as capital goods and oil and gas stocks slipped.

The weakness in market comes just a day after it rallied 338 points. The markets were cautious ahead of June derivatives expiry and the ongoing security situation in Iraq.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 25,421.49 points, closed trade at 25,313.74 points (provisional), down 55.16 points or 0.22 percent from the previous day's close at 25,368.90 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 25,427.80 points and a low of 25,274.39 points during the intra-trade.

Good buying was observed in automobile, healthcare and consumer durables sectors.

The S&P BSE automobile index gained 114.38 points and healthcare index went up by 91.02 points and consumer durables closed higher by 75.30 points.

However, capital goods index was down 111.20 points, followed by oil and gas index which was lower by 91.14 points and bank index fell 74.94 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also ended in red. It fell 10.95 points or 0.14 percent at 7,569.25 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Bajaj Auto, up 2.63 percent at Rs.2,279; Maruti Suzuki, up 2.56 percent at Rs.2,477.40; Gail India, up 1.69 percent at Rs.467.40; Coal India, up 1.56 percent at Rs.397.70; and State Bank of India (SBI), up 1.21 percent at Rs.2,691.75.

The losers were: ONGC, down 1.42 percent at Rs.436.85; ITC, 1.36 percent at RS.316.05; Bharti Airtel, down 1.35 percent at Rs.336.35; ICICI Bank; down 1.30 percent at Rs.1,419.85; and Larsen and Toubro, down 1.19 percent at Rs.1,650.45.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.71 percent down, while China's Shanghai Composite Index ended 0.41 percent lower and Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.06 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.57 percent down and Germany's DAX Index was lower by 0.38 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index lost 0.72 percent at the closing bell here.