Mumbai, July 11 (IANS) A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Wednesday closed 129 points lower on profit booking and weak European cues. Auto, FMCG and realty stocks came under selling pressure.
The index ended at a four-month closing high Tuesday, gaining 226 points.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), opened at 17,553.97 points, closed 17,489.14 points, down 0.73 percent or 129.21 points from its previous close at 17,618.35 points.
The BSE mid-cap was down 7.72 points and small cap was down 16.02 points.
The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed at 5,306.30 points down 0.73 percent.
Traders said a correction in US stocks Tuesday due to poor earnings was the reason for fall in Asia and Europe.
They also said that reports of below average monsoon which might affect measures to boost economy and company earnings during the quarter led to the bearish market sentiments.
The BSE auto index was down 122.46 points. And so were the FMCG index, down 56.58 points, and the realty index, down 18.65 points.
The main losers were Hindalco Inds, down 2.74 percent at Rs.124.10; Wipro, down 2.68 percent at Rs.374.20; Tata Motors, down 2.03 percent at Rs.241.40; Sterlite Inds, down 1.89 percent at Rs.106.25; and Bharti Airtel, down 1.87 percent at Rs.315.45.
The only five Sensex gainers were Larsen and Toubro up 1.20 percent at Rs.1,434.75; NTPC, up 0.44 percent at Rs.160.45; Infosys, up 0.29 percent at Rs.2,466.35; Gail India, up 0.25 percent at Rs.357.90; and Coal India, up 0.03 percent at Rs.353.65.
In the Asian region, the Japan's Nikkei closed 0.08 percent down, Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed 0.12 percent up and China's Composite index was 0.51 percent up.
At closing bell here, European markets were trading mixed. France's CAC was down 0.24 percent while Germany's DAX was, up 0.60 percent, Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.12 percent.
