Sensex down 185 points; IT stocks fall (Roundup)

Mumbai, May 7 (IANS) A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed Wednesday's trade 185 points or 0.82 percent down as information technology (IT), automobile and technology, media and entertainment stocks tanked.

However, healthy buying was observed in consumer durables and power stocks.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 22,488.96 points, closed trade at 22,323.90 points, down 184.52 points or 0.82 percent from the previous day's close at 22,508.42 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 22,532.82 points and a low of 22,286.26 points intra-day.

The S&P BSE IT index dropped 225.49 points, technology, entertainment and media (TECK) index went down by 107.90 points and automobile index fell 93.57 points, while consumer durables index gained by 52.65 points and power index was up by 3.26 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended the trade down by 62.75 points or 0.93 percent at 6,652.55 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: NTPC, up 1.27 percent at Rs.115.45; State Bank of India (SBI), up 1.06 percent at Rs.2,073.40; Sun Pharma, up 0.99 percent at Rs.631.45, Axis Bank, down 0.19 percent at Rs.1,540.90; and Hindustan Unilever, up 0.14 percent at Rs.554.40.

The main losers were: Infosys, down 3.15 percent at Rs.3,064.45; HDFC, down 2.75 percent at Rs.853.10; Hindalco Inds, down 2.20 percent at Rs.135.40; and Cipla, down 2.07 percent at Rs.382.85, and Gail India, down 1.80 percent at Rs.363.70.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 2.93 percent down while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was lower by 1.05 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.89 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.39 percent down and the French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.16 percent, while Germany's DAX Index fell by 0.15 percent.