Mumbai, April 15 (Inditop.com) WIth heavy selling pulling it down towards the closing bell Thursday, a key Indian equities index ended trade 1.03 percent lower than its previous close.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,804.55 points, closed at 17,626.51 points, down 182.7 points or 1.03 percent from its previous close at 17,821.96 points.
At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty ended at 5,273.6 points, down 0.93 percent against the previous close at 5,322.95 points.
Selling also hit broader markets which had seen buying interest earlier. The BSE midcap index closed 0.21 percent down while the BSE small cap index ended 0.58 percent lower.
Energy, banking and capital goods stocks came under selling pressure while realty scrips generated buying interest.
The market breadth was negative with 1,222 stocks advancing, compared to 1,708 on the decline, while 69 remained unchanged.
Top gainers on the 30-scrip Sensex were Jaiprakash Associates, up 1.17 percent at Rs.151.70; Hindustan Unilever, up 0.92 percent at Rs.225.25; DLF, up 0.82 percent at Rs.338.25; and Infosys, up 0.69 percent at Rs.2,801.55.
Reliance Industries was among the key scrips that pulled down the Sensex, having lost 2.72 percent to end the day at Rs.1,090.25.
Other major losers included ICICI Bank, down 2.55 percent at Rs.918.10; ITC, down 2.23 percent at Rs.262.75; and L&T, down 1.87 percent at Rs.1,570.60.
Other Asian markets rose during the day after positive economic data from China showed its gross domestic product increased more than 11.9 percent. However, fears that the Chinese Central Bank would resort to further policy tightening led the stock markets to give up some of the gains.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.16 percent higher at 22,157.82 points, while the Chinese Shanghai composite index was down 0.04 percent at 3,164.97 points.
The South Korean Kospi closed 0.49 percent up at 1,743.91 points, while the Japanese Nikkei shut shop in the green at 11,273.79 points — up 0.61 percent.
European markets were ruling flat at the time of closing bell here.
The FTSE 100, the benchmark index of the London Stock Exchange, was ruling at 5,803.09 points, up 0.12 percent, while its German peer, DAX, was trading 0.06 percent lower at 6,274.54 points.
The French CAC 40 index was up 0.05 percent at 4,059.74 points.
