Business
Sensex trades nearly 100 points down; healthcare stocks slump
Mumbai, April 17
A benchmark index of Indian
equities markets, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex), was trading
nearly 100 points down during the mid-afternoon session on Friday. It
was down 97 points or 0.34 percent.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of
the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also trading in the red. It was
down 61.75 points or 0.71 percent at 8,644.95 points.
The Sensex
of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 28,682.97
points, was trading at 28,568.62 points (at 1.30 p.m.), down 97.42
points or 0.34 percent from the previous day's close at 28,666.04
points.
The Sensex has touched a high of 28,696.19 points and a low of 28,515.30 points in the intra-day trade so far.
Heavy
selling pressure was observed in healthcare, information technology
(IT), banks, technology, entertainment and media (TECK), consumer
durables and automobile sectors.
However, healthy buying was observed in the metal stocks.
The
BSE S&P healthcare index receded 321.75 points, followed by IT
index which declined by 216.86 points, bank index slipped by 192.79
points, TECK index decreased by 115.35 points, consumer durables index
was lower by 72.82 points and automobile index fell 61.77 points.
However, the S&P BSE metal index was up 150.99 points.