Mumbai, Sep 24 (IANS) A benchmark index of Indian equities markets fell by 40 points Monday in late afternoon trade due to heavy selling pressure in FMCG, oil and gas and health care stocks.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,756.31 points, was ruling 18,713.03 points, 39.80 points or 0.21 percent down from its previous day’s close at 18,752.83 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 18,811.13 points and a low of 18,668.90 points in intra-day trade.
The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was also ruling 0.25 percent at 5,676.95 points.
On the sectoral front, the BSE FMCG index was down 90.34 points while oil and gas index was down 74.79 points and health care index was down 36.09 points.
Major Sensex gainers were BHEL, up 6.33 percent at Rs.247; Jindal Steel, 3.54 percent at Rs.441.70; Maruti Suzuki, up 3.47 percent at Rs.1,358.25; Mahindra and Mahindra, up 3.37 percent at Rs.835.40; and Hindalco Inds, up 2 percent at Rs.120.05.
Major Sensex losers were ITC, down 2.73 percent at Rs.254.50; Hindustan Unilever, down 2.60 percent at Rs.515.80; HDFC, down 2.20 percent at Rs.762; Cipla, down 2.17 percent at Rs.353.50; and ONGC, down 1.82 percent at Rs.288.
