Sensex closes 135 points down as metals, auto stocks plummet

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed 135 points lower in Tuesday's trade after heavy selling in metals, bank, auto and consumer goods.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,784.75 points, closed at 18,577.70 points, down 135.85 points or 0.73 percent from its previous day's close at 18,713.55 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 18,801.10  points and a low of 18,549.28 points in intra-day trade.

The BSE midcap index closed 48.06 points down, while the smallcap index ended 29.24 points lower.

On the sectoral front, the BSE metals index was down 200.83 points, followed by the capital goods index, down 168.39 points, bank index, down 108.95 points and auto index, down 94.64 points.

The major Sensex gainers were Maruti Suzuki, up 2.13 percent at Rs.1,366.65, Hero MotoCorp, up 1.70 percent at Rs.1,800.55, Bharti Airtel, up 1.65 percent at Rs.267.65, Sun Pharma, up 0.52 percent at Rs.718.20 and HDFC, up 0.47 percent at Rs.743.30.

Among the losers were Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), down 3.66 percent at Rs.826.00, Tata Motors, down 2.62 percent at Rs.262.30, Tata Steel, down 2.45 percent at Rs.408.75, Hindalco Inds, down 2.38 percent at Rs.117.10 and Sterlite Inds, down 2.26 percent at Rs.99.50.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also down 39.25 points or 0.69 percent, at 5,648.00 points.

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was up 1.44 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed 0.28 percent higher. Shanghai's composite index was up 0.01 percent.

European markets were also up. London's FTSE 100 index was trading 1.44 percent higher. Germany's DAX index was up 0.64 percent and so was French CAC 40, up 0.46 percent.