Sensex trades 125 points down; healthcare stocks hit

Mumbai, April 21

A benchmark index of the Indian equities markets, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex), was trading in the red during the pre-afternoon trade session on Tuesday.

It was down nearly 125 points or 0.45 per cent.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also trading lower during the pre-afternoon trade session. It was down by 48.85 points or 0.58 percent at 8,399.25 points.

The Sensex of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 27,886.21 points, was trading at 27,761.79 points (at 10.00 a.m.) in the early session, down 124.42 points or 0.45 percent from the previous day's close at 27,860.51 points.

The Sensex had touched a high of 27,976.93 points and a low of 27,750.43 points in the intra-day trade so far.

In Tuesday's trade healthy buying was observed in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), consumer durables and power sectors.

However, stocks of healthcare, information technology (IT), automobile, banks and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) came under heavy selling pressure.

The BSE S&P healthcare index plunged by 584.28 points, followed by IT index which declined by 121.64 points, automobile index receded by 62.73 points, bank index fell by 55.08 points and TECK index was down by 51.79 points.

However, the S&P BSE FMCG index was up by 30.68 points, consumer durables index was higher by 24.57 points and power index was marginally up by 1.62 points.

IANS