Sensex, Nifty set new records but close in red (Roundup)

A benchmark index of the Indian equities markets closed Wednesday's trade in the red, falling 109 points or 0.43 percent, after it touched another record high of 25,735.87 points in early morning trade.

Scrips of sectors like metal, consumer durables, oil and gas, capital goods and realty came under sustained selling pressure.

However, healthy buying was observed in information technology (IT) stocks, followed by healthcare, technology, entertainment and media (TECK) and bank sectors.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex (sensitive index) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 25,650.62 points, ended trade at 25,473.89 points, down 109.80 points or 0.43 percent, from its previous close of 25,583.69 points.

This is the fourth consecutive time that the Sensex hit a record high. The benchmark index was on a high of 25,735.87 points and a low of 25,365.65 points in the day's trade.

The index touched a high of 25,711.11 points in Tuesday's intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too touched a new high of 7,700.05 points before closing at 7,626.85 units, down 29.55 points or 0.39 percent.

The BSE metal index was down 390.75 points, followed by BSE consumer durables index fell by 258.67 points, oil and gas index declined by 217.76 points, capital goods index decreased by 192.74 points and realty index slipped by 92.07 points.

Gainers included BSE IT index, which soared by 193.53 points, healthcare index, up 70.24 points, and TECK index, up 62.44 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Infosys, up 3.64 percent at Rs.3,178.75; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), up 2.23 percent at Rs.2,205.25; DrReddys Lab, up 1.67 percent at Rs.2,431.95; Hero MotoCorp, up 1.61 percent at Rs.2,705.40; and Bajaj Auto, up 1.14 percent at Rs.2,175.25.

The losers were: Tata Power, down 4.98 percent at Rs.106.90; Hindalco Inds, down 4.18 percent at Rs.162.60; Coal India, down 3.84 percent at Rs.404.10; BHEL, down 3.33 percent at Rs.247.10; and NTPC, down 3.18 percent at Rs.158.25.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.50 percent up. China's Shanghai Composite Index was higher by 0.12 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 0.25 percent down.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.62 percent down and Germany's DAX Index was lower by 1.01 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index was slipped by 0.86 percent at the closing bell here.