Sensex ends 167 points down; oil and gas stocks plunge (Roundup)

Mumbai, May 27 (IANS) A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed Tuesday's trade 167.37 points or 0.68 percent down on profit booking, a day after Bharatiya Janata Party-led government was sworn-in.

Heavy selling pressure was observed in oil and gas, automobile and bank stocks, as profit-booking hit blue chip stocks in these sectors.

However, information technology (IT), healthcare and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) sectors witnessed healthy buying.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 24,748.10 points, closed the trade at 24,549.51 points, down 167.37 points or 0.68 percent from the previous day's close at 24,716.88 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 24,777.31 points and a low of 24,422.33 points in trade.

The S&P BSE oil and gas index went down by 218.65 points, automobile index was 193.75 points lower, bank index dropped by 106.96 points, consumer durables index slipped by 50.39 points and power index slumped 47.60 points.

However, IT index gained 24.96 points, followed by healthcare index was up 24.76 points, technology, entertainment and media (TECK) index rose 10.20 points, and metal index was higher by 5.17 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also went down. It closed 41.05 points or 0.56 percent lower at 7,318 points.

The prominent Sensex gainers included Tata Steel, up 1.78 percent at Rs.476.75; Hindalco Inds, up 1.63 percent at Rs.149.55; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), up 1.37 percent at Rs.1,565.35; Infosys, up 1.29 percent at Rs.3,133.90; and HDFC Bank, up 0.82 percent at Rs.804.85.

Of the 30 Sensex scrips, 21 closed in the red. Among the major Sensex losers were Gail India, down 7.56 percent at Rs.379.05; BHEL, down 5.30 percent at Rs.245.65; Mahindra and Mahindra, down 2.90 percent at Rs.1,194.65; Tata Power, down 2.71 percent at Rs.98.65; and State Bank of India (SBI), down 2.50 percent at Rs.2,632.20.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.23 percent up, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 0.08 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.34 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.49 percent up and the French CAC 40 Index was higher by 0.38 percent. Germany's DAX Index had lost 0.01 percent at the closing bell here.