Sensex slips further; consumer durables fall (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets extended its losses Monday, closing 17.37 points or 0.07 percent lower as consumer durables and information technology (IT) stocks dipped.

Heavy selling pressure was observed in consumer durables, IT and healthcare sectors, while healthy buying was seen in capital goods, automobile and metal sectors.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 25,093.16 points, closed at 25,006.98 points, down 17.37 points or 0.07 percent from the previous day's close at 25,024.35 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 25,095.76 points and a low of 24,892 points in the trade so far.

The markets were sober even after headline inflation eased to a four-month low of 5.43 percent in June against 6.01 percent in May, due to slow growth in the price of fuel and food. The country's key inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) was recorded at 5.16 percent in June 2013.

The S&P BSE consumer durables sector dipped 187.27 points, IT index slipped 119.11 points and healthcare index dropped 61.99 points.

However, capital goods index gained 170.59 points, automobile index was up 149.94 points and metal index gained by 121.32 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed 5.45 points or 0.07 percent lower at 7,454.15 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Hindalco Inds, up 4.15 percent at Rs.173.35; Tata Power, up 2.80 percent at Rs.104.70; Tata Steel, up 2.60 percent at Rs.513.95; Tata Motors, 2.41 percent at Rs.456.25; and Axis Bank, up 1.68 percent at Rs.1,846.70.

The losers were: Infosys, down 2.97 percent at Rs.3,227; Hindustan Unilever, down 2.64 percent at Rs.624; Wipro, down 2.19 percent at Rs.540.45; Sesa Sterlite, down 1.28 percent at Rs.289.90; and NTPC, down 1.27 percent at Rs.147.75.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.88 percent up while Hong Kong's Heng Seng ended 0.49 percent lower. China's Shanghai Composite Index went 0.96 percent up.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was up 0.66 percent, the French CAC 40 was higher by 0.59 percent and Germany's DAX Index gained 0.74 percent at the closing bell here.