Sensex tanks 298 points on rupee woes

A benchmark index of Indian equities market closed 1.53 percent or 298 points down on a day the rupee hit a record low.

The rupee Tuesday depreciated to Rs.58.98 against a dollar on continued worries over current account deficit. This resulted in heavy selling, especially in consumer durables, metal, banking, public sector units (PSUs) and oil and gas stocks.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,382.22 points, closed at 19,143.00 points, down 298.07 points or 1.53 percent from its previous day's close at 19,441.07 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 19,418.74 points and a low of 19,121.18 points in intra-day trade.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended 0.50 percent or 29.25 points down at 5,848.75 points.

The S&P BSE consumer durables index tanked 459.88 points, metal slipped 343.29 points, bankex dipped 310.16 points, PSU was down by 132.69 points, auto slid by 135.80 points and oil and gas plunged by 125.19 points.

The prominent Sensex gainers were: Cipla, up 1.90 points at Rs.380.35; Bajaj Auto, up 0.83 percent at Rs.1,783.25; and Wipro, up 0.69 percent at Rs.345.05.

The prominent Sensex losers were: Jindal Steel, down 15.18 percent at Rs.226.35; Hindalco Inds, down 5.97 percent at Rs.94.55; Tata Power, down 5.87 percent at Rs.82.55; ONGC, down 3.91 percent at Rs.308.50; ICICI Bank, down 3.75 percent at Rs.1,076.40; Mahindra & Mahindra, down 3.11 percent at Rs.946.55; and Tata Steel, down 3.06 percent at Rs.281.50.

--Indo-Asian News service

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