Mumbai, May 19
In a roller coaster ride within a band of nearly 300 points, a key Indian equities index swung both ways on Tuesday but ended marginally lower with a loss of 42 points or 0.15 percent.

The 30-share Sensex, which opened at 27,663.08 points, closed at 27,645.53 points -- down 41.77 points, or 0.15 percent, over the previous trading day\'s close at 27,687.30 points. It touched a high of 27,872.23 points and a low of 27,574.07 points in Tuesday\'s trade.

The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also closed 8 points or 0.10 percent lower at 8365.64 points.

\"Key benchmark indices took a pause, amid a volatile session of trade, as they sought to digest the stupendous gains witnessed in the previous session,\" brokerage firm Sharekhan said.

In Tuesday\'s trade, good buying was observed in IT sectors, while selling pressure was seen in auto and oil and gas sectors.

Among the 12 sector-specific indices of the Mumbai bourse, IT index got augmented by 0.73 percent, while auto index went down by 0.77 percent and oil and gas index fell by 0.45 percent.

The 100-scrip and 200-scrip indices were down by 0.07 percent and 0.03 percent, respectively. Mid-cap index was lower by around 0.15 percent, while small-cap stocks ended 0.36 percent higher.

The major Sensex gainers on Tuesday were: Hero MotoCorp, up 2.16 percent at Rs.2,575.10; Wipro, up 1.65 percent at Rs.552.85; Vedanta Limited, up 1.49 percent at Rs.214.85; and Infosys, up 1.33 percent at Rs.2,018.15.

The losers were: HDFC, down 2.04 percent at Rs.1,237.10; Tata Motors, down 1.95 percent at Rs.510.10; ONGC, down 1.54 percent at Rs.316.80; and Bajaj-Auto, down 1.02 percent at Rs.2,199.25.

Among the Asian markets, Japan\'s Nikkei went up by 0.68 percent, China\'s Shanghai Composite Index ended 3.15 percent higher, and Hong Kong\'s Hang Seng was higher by 0.37 percent.

In Europe, London\'s FTSE 100 went up by 0.40 percent, France\'s CAC 40 increased by 1.55 percent, and Germany\'s DAX Index was higher by 1.71 percent at the closing in the Indian markets.

Sensex, Nifty end marginally lower in a choppy trade