Sensex slips 56 points after 3 days of gains (Roundup)

Mumbai, May 14 (IANS) A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Wednesday closed in the negative territory -- down 56 points or 0.24 percent -- after three consecutive sessions of record gains, as oil and gas and capital goods stocks came under heavy selling pressure.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) had Tuesday crossed the 24,000-mark for the first time in its history recording 24,068.94 points.

The Sensex traversed 1,000 points in barely three days in a magnificent rally. On May 9, the benchmark index rose more than 650 points to cross the 23,000-mark barrier for the first time at 23,048.49 points.

The market then closed at 23,871.23 points Tuesday, up 320.23 points or 1.36 percent. On Monday it had surged more than 556 points to touch a new high of 23,573 points and ended trade at 23,551 points.

The markets were high as the exit polls had shown the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies closing in on a majority in the just-ended country's general elections.

However, rating and financial consulting companies like Credit Suisse and JP Morgan were soon to reject the formula based on which the exit poll results were drawn, bringing caution to the market Wednesday.

The Sensex opened at 23,897.88 points and ended trade at 23,815.12 points, down 56.11 points or 0.24 percent from the previous day's close at 23,871.23 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 23,964.67 points and a low of 23,753.36 points intra-day.

Healthy buying was observed in metal, consumer durables, realty, bank and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks.

However, oil and gas, capital goods, healthcare, information technology (IT) and automobile scrips came under selling pressure.

The S&P BSE metal index gained 339.29 points, consumer durables index surged 165.92 points, realty index went up 63.44 points, bank index rose 49.94 points, and FMCG index moved up by 43.47 points.

However, Oil and gas index was down 83.73 points, followed by capital goods index which fell 47.43 points, healthcare index declined by 31.66 points, IT slipped by 27.20 points and automobile index was 3.60 points lower.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too closed flat at 7,108.75 points from its previous day's close of 7,108.40 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Tata Steel, up 5.91 percent at Rs.452.15; Coal India, up 3.39 percent at Rs.342.90; Bajaj Auto, up 3.10 percent at Rs.2,040.55; NTPC, down 2.20 percent at Rs.125.55; and Seas Sterlite, up 2.18 percent at Rs.197.15.

The main losers were: Dr Reddy's Lab, down 3.51 percent at Rs.2,519; Mahindra and Mahindra, down 2.91 percent at Rs.1,089.70; HDFC, down 2.01 percent at Rs.888.30, HDFC Bank, down 1.52 percent at Rs.775.25; and Reliance Industries, down 1.49 percent at Rs.1,045.55.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 1.03 percent up while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was higher by 0.01 percent. However, China's Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.14 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.12 percent down and the French CAC 40 Index fell 0.11 percent, while Germany's DAX Index lost 0.14 percent.