Mumbai, Oct 30 (IANS): A benchmark index of Indian equities markets was down 165.26 points around 11.30 a.m. Tuesday as the auto, banks, capital goods and metal stocks were hit following a Reserve Bank of India's decision not to change bank lending rates in its second quarter review of the monetary policy.

However, the RBI cut cash reserve ratio, or the money against deposits which commercial banks have to retain in the form of liquid assets such as cash, by 25 basis points to release some Rs.175 billion into the system for commercial lending.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,642.01 points, was ruling at 18,470.56 points, 165.26 points or 0.89 percent down from its previous day's close at 18,635.82 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 18,718.28 points and a low of 18,452.41 in intra-day trade.

BSE midcap index was down by 57.21 points, while the smallcap index was lower by 51.34 points.

On the sectoral front, the BSE bank index was down by 213.61 points followed by capital goods index, down by 213.61 points, auto index, down by 164.87 points, and metal index, down by 122.21 points.

The major Sensex losers included Tata Motors, down by 4.21 percent at Rs.245.95; State Bank of India (SBI), down by 2.96 percent at Rs.2,106.00; ICICI Bank, down by 2.89 percent at Rs.1,037.70; Hero MotoCorp, down by 2.78 percent at Rs.1,852.65; and Larsen and Toubro (L&T), down by 2.44 percent at Rs.1,646.30.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was lower by 67.30 points or 1.19 percent up at 5,598.30 points.

Among other Asian markets too, the trend remained flat -- Japan's Nikkei was down by 0.98 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was trading 0.68 percent lower. However, Shanghai's Composite Index was up by 0.09 percent.