Sensex down 122 points; IT stocks fall

Mumbai, May 14 :  A benchmark index of Indian equities markets, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex), plunged 122 points or 0.45 percent during the mid-afternoon trade session on Thursday.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also traded in the red during the mid-afternoon session. It was down 42.20 points or 0.51 percent at 8,193.25 points.

The Sensex of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 27,290.17 points, was trading at 27,129.49 points (at 1.45 p.m.) in the mid-afternoon trade session, down 121.61 points or 0.45 percent from the previous day's close at 27,251.10 points.

The Sensex has touched a high of 27,293.99 points and a low of 26,948.62 points in the intra-day trade so far.

In Thursday's trade, healthy buying was observed in automobile, oil and gas and metal stocks. However, information technology (IT), healthcare and banking sectors came under selling pressure.

The S&P BSE automobile index augmented by 75.50 points, followed by oil and gas index which was higher by 48.88 points and metal index was up by 21.16 points.

The S&P BSE IT index receded by 116.17 points, healthcare index lost 70.62 points and banking index was down by 66.95 points. 

The market's were impacted by a number of factors, some of them being- negative international cues, outflow of foreign funds due to a tax issue, weakening rupee value and disappointing quarterly results.

However, the official data on the annual rate of wholesale price inflation (WPI) which decelerated further to its lowest in six months helped in calming some nerves on the market.

The WPI stood at (-)2.65 percent for April from (-)2.33 percent for the month before, this data should provide more room for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ease its monetary policy stance.