Sensex down 67.17 points in the afternoon trade

Mumbai -  A benchmark index of Indian equities markets was Wednesday trading 67.17 points lower in afternoon trade, led by a selling spree in auto, oil and gas and metals  stocks.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), opened at 17,553.97 points and was trading at 17,551.18 points, down 0.38 percent or 67.17 points from its  previous close at 17,618.35 points.

However, BSE mid-cap was up 21.56 points and small cap was higher by 11.20 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also was trading at 5,329.55 points down 15.80 points or 0.30 percent.

The BSE automobile index was down 69.23 points, while the oil and gas index was down 68.18 points and the metal index 55.11 points down respectively.

Major Sensex gainers were Infosys, up 26.90 points at Rs.2,486; SBI, up 19.90 points at Rs.2,242; HDFC Bank, up 3.60 points at Rs.592; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), up 5.55 points at Rs.1,423.35;  and Hero MotoCorp, up 5.56 points at Rs.2,070.50.

The main losers were Wipro, down 9.10 points at Rs.375.40; Hindalco Inds, down 2.75 points at Rs.124.85; Tata Motors, down 4.30 points at Rs.242.10; ITC, down 3.65 points at Rs.254.50; and

BHEL, 3.30 points down at Rs.232.55.

On the Asian front, Japan's Nikkei was down 0.08 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was lower by 0.09 percent. However, China's Shanghai Composite index was up 0.51 percent.