BSE Sensex closes 44 pts down on heavy selling in metal stocks

The BSE Sensex closed 44 points down in lackluster trading on Wednesday, largely due to heavy selling pressure in metal stocks.

The 30-scrip index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened in the red, moved into the positive terrain in the afternoon before slipping back in the negative. The Sensex ended the day at 17,199.40 points, down 0.26 per cent or 44.44 points from its previous close at 17,243.84 points.

The index touched a low of 17,075.89 points and high of 17,319.15 points in the intra-day. There was heavy selling pressure in metal, consumer durables and oil and gas stocks.

The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 0.32 per cent lower at 5,226.85 points.

The BSE metal index fell 1.34 per cent to 10,720.67 points. The consumer durables index fell 1.05 per cent and the oil and gas index closed 0.86 per cent down.

Jindal Steel fell 2.92 per cent to close at Rs 486.55. The heavyweight Reliance Industries fell 1.36 per cent to Rs 732.90.

Bharti Airtel, down 2.27 per cent at Rs 322.85; Sterlite Industries, down 1.97 per cent at Rs 102.25; BHEL, down 1.92 per cent at Rs 250.90 and Tata Power, down 1.87 per cent at Rs 102.45 were among the major Sensex losers.

Prominent Sensex gainers were: Sun Pharma, up 2.08 per cent at Rs 578.95; NTPC, up 1.79 per cent at Rs 165.20; Infosys, up 0.92 per cent at Rs 2,802.35; SBI, up 0.43 per cent at Rs 2,160.30 and HDFC Bank, up 0.33 per cent at Rs 526.25.

With IANS inputs