Sensex sheds 230 points on profit booking

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets lost tanked 230 points on Monday on profit booking and tracking global markets. Capital goods, oil and gas and banking stocks were the worst performers. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,969.19 points, closed at 18,708.98 points, 229.48 points or 1.21 per cent down than its previous day’s close at 18.938.46 points, marking its biggest daily fall since July 27. The Sensex touched a high of 18,969.19 points and a low of 18,684.40 points in intra-day trade. The BSE midcap index was down 29.39 points, while the smallcap index was lower by 11.64 points. On the sectoral front, the BSE capital goods index was down 306.73 points followed by oil and gas index, down 245.34 points, and the banking index, down 161.06 points. The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was down 70.95 points or 1.23 per cent and closed at 5,676.00 points. Market analysts said Monday’s fall was due to weak global cues and also because of profit booking as the scrips had rallied sharply since last month on strong inflow of foreign money. From gulftoday