Sensex sheds 256 points; consumer durables stocks tank (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Monday closed trading 256.30 points or 0.88 percent down as consumer durables stocks tanked.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed trading 78.65 points or 0.89 percent down at 8,754.95 points.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 29,316.58 points, closed at 28,975.11 points, down 256.30 points or 0.88 percent from the previous day's close at 29,231.41 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 29,362.96 points and a low of 28,913.16 points in intra-day trade.

Almost all the sectors ended in the red. Heavy selling pressure was seen in consumer durables, banking, oil and gas, auto, healthcare and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sectors.

The S&P BSE consumer durables index plunged by 211.58 points, bankex plummeted by 191.74 points, oil and gas index slipped by 186.17 points, auto index fell by 135.71 points, healthcare index dropped by 123.10 points and FMCG index slid by 108.33 points.

"The broader trend of the market is still intact and current sell off is nothing but adjustment of over retracement in the short term. Nifty has next major support in the region of 8710/8685, but failure to hold may lead to further more weakness to 8600/8575," Shrikant Chouhan, head - technical research, Kotak Securities said.

"However, medium/positional traders should use 8,700 and 8,600 levels as an opportunity to buy growth oriented stocks. Stable Crude prices and Currency below 63 are going to support the market in the near term," he added.

The major Sensex gainers were: Mahindra & Mahindra, up 0.99 percent at Rs.1,261.20 and Sesa Sterlite Limited, up 0.94 percent at Rs.219.45.

The losers were: Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd, down 6.98 percent at Rs.109.95; Unitech, down 3.80 percent at Rs.17.70; Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, down 3.54 percent at Rs.345.20; Titan, down 3.40 percent at Rs.420.20; DLF, down 3.27 percent at Rs.146.35 and NMDC, down 3.20 percent at Rs.137.50.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei went up by 0.73 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 0.02 percent points higher and China's Shanghai Composite Index, gained by 0.78 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was down by 0.32 percent, while Germany's DAX Index went up by 0.34 percent and France's CAC 40 was higher by 0.21 percent.