Sensex closes 117 points down

Mumbai, July 20 (IANS) A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed 117 points down Friday after banking, capital goods and realty stocks came under heavy selling pressure.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,275.20 points, closed at 17,160.88 points (provisional), down 0.68 percent or 117.97 points from its previous day's close at 17,278.85 points.

The BSE bank index was down 143.22 points, followed by capital goods index -- down 117.71 points -- and realty index that was down 17.85 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 0.66 percent down at 5208.05 points.

The major Sensex losers were BHEL, down 2.75 percent at Rs.228.20; Dr Reddys Lab, down 2.69 percent at Rs.1,611; Cipla, down 1.52 percent at Rs.327; Wipro, down 1.52 percent at Rs.363 and ICICI Bank, down 1.48 percent at Rs.936.

The major Sensex gainers were Bajaj Auto, up 2.63 percent at Rs.1,590; Maruti Suzuki, up 2.45 percent at Rs.1,144.75; TCS, up 1.84 percent at Rs.1,222.90; Coal India, up 0.67 percent at Rs.362 and Tata Steel, up 0.08 percent at Rs.415.

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