Sensex extends losses on week European cues

Mumbai - A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Wednesday extended its losses to trade 141 points in lower late afternoon following weak opening in European bourses. Auto, oil and gas, and realty stocks came under selling pressure.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), opened at 17,553.97 points and was trading at 17,477.27 points, down 0.80 percent or 141.08 points around 2 p.m. from its previous close at 17,618.35 points.

The BSE mid-cap was up 6.17 points and small cap was down 4.40 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also was trading at 5,303.95 points down 0.77 percent.

The BSE automobile index was down 117.98 points. And so were the oil and gas index, down 88.04 points, and the realty index, down 18.50 points.

The main losers were Hindalco Inds, down 2.66 percent at Rs.124.20; Wipro, down 2.60 percent at Rs.374.50; Tata Motors, down 2.27 percent at Rs.240.80; RIL, down 1.83 percent at Rs.726; and BHEL, down 1.53 percent at Rs.232.25.

The only four Sensex gainers were Gail India, up 0.87 percent at Rs.360.10; Larsen and Toubro up 0.48 percent at Rs.1,424.65; Infosys, up 0.29 percent at Rs.2,466.30 and SBI, up 0.08 percent at Rs.2,224.

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was down 0.08 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was higher by 0.12 percent and China's Shanghai Composite index was up 0.51 percent.

At closing bell here, European markets were trading in the red. France's CAC was down 0.82 percent and so were Germany's DAX, down 0.38 percent, Britain's FTSE 100, down 0.38 percent.