Mumbai, May 23 (IANS) A benchmark index for Indian equities markets fell for the second straight day to close below the 16,000-mark as the rupee plunged to a new low Wednesday. Consumer durables, capital goods and realty stocks came under intense selling pressure.
Amid volatile trade, the 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 15,995.14 points, closed at 15,948.10 points, down 0.49 percent or 78.31 points from its previous close of 16,026.41 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 16,002.03 points and a low of 15,847.03 intra-day. The midcap index of the BSE fell 23.96 points, while smallcap index closed 36.46 points down.
The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 0.51 percent lower at 4,835.65 points.
The Indian rupee breached another psychological level of 56 against a dollar Wednesday, hitting a new low for the sixth session in a row.
This follows persistent demands for the American currency from importers and banks amid rising risk aversion in the global markets.
The BSE consumer durable index was down 2.08 percent, capital goods index was down 0.89 percent while realty index was down 0.86 percent.
Major Sensex losers included Bharti Airtel, down 4.29 percent at Rs.281.95; Tata Power, down 1.99 percent at Rs.88.65; Hero MotoCorp, down 1.86 percent at Rs.1,826.20; Jindal Steel, down 1.84 percent at Rs.452.95; and Sterlite Inds, down 1.51 percent at Rs.94.35.
The gainers were Gail India, up 3.19 percent at Rs.323.95; Wipro, up 1.15 percent at Rs.385.90; State Bank of India (SBI), up 0.93 percent at Rs.1,956.45; Mahindra and Mahindra, up 0.84 percent at Rs.643.95; and Coal India, up 0.72 percent at Rs.308.10.
Brokers said a weak trend in other Asian markets following overnight losses at the US market influenced trading sentiment earlier in the day. At the time of closing of markets here, European markets like France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were in the red.
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