Sensex closes 104 points down

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed 104 points lower on Monday on selling in realty, banks, capital goods, technology and auto stocks. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,769.44 points, closed at 17,678.81 points, 0.59 per cent or 104.50 points down from its previous day’s close at 17,783.21 points. The Sensex touched a high of 17,820.07 points and a low of 17,662.21 points in intra-day trade. The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 0.68 per cent down at 5,350.25 points. The BSE realty index was down 38.55 points. And so were banking index, down 215.37 points, and the capital goods, down 159.99 points. The main Sensex losers were Jindal Steel, down 5.16 per cent at Rs377.15; BHEL, down 2.70 per cent at Rs224.20; SBI, down 2.58 per cent at Rs1,845.95; ICICI Bank, down 2.12 per cent at Rs.935.45 and Tata Motors, down 1.99 per cent at Rs.241.10. The major gainers were Mahindra and Mahindra, up 1.35 per cent at Rs772.80; RIL, up 0.68 per cent at Rs787.40; Sun Pharma, up 0.67 per cent at Rs.669.85; Bajaj Auto, up 0.63 per cent at Rs1,722.85 and Bharti Airtel, up 0.44 per cent at Rs249.10.