Mumbai, Sep 13 (IANS): A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Friday closed 49 points lower in a volatile trade ahead of the wholesale price index figures and US stimulus tapering next week.
The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,744.54 points, closed at 19,732.76 points, down 49.12 points or 0.25 percent from its previous day's close at 19,781.88 points.
The benchmark Sensex touched a high of 19,899.37 and a low of 19,675.68 points intraday.
The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) marginally lost in the day's trade. It closed 0.10 points at 5,850.60 points.
"Going ahead, the policy decision by the (US) Fed and its guidance, if any, on tapering of the quantitative easing measures will be closely watched," said Dipen Shah, head - private client group research, Kotak Securities.
"The first meeting of the RBI under the new governor will also be an important trigger for the market, especially the decision on interest rates."
Healthy buying was observed in capital goods, public sectors undertakings (PSUs), automobile, oil and gas and metal stocks.
However, heavy selling took place in information technology (IT), consumer durables, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), technology, entertainment and media (TECk) sectors.
The S&P capital goods index gained 178.45 points, PSU index closed the day's trade up by 101.44 points, automobile index was up 93.65 points, oil and gas index, was 48.96 points higher and metal index rose 44.38 points.
IT index dropped by 112.98 points, followed by consumer durables index was down 90.05 points, FMCG index slipped 65.88 points and TECk index 50.24 points.
Only 11 of 30 scrips on the sensitive index were gainers in the day's trade. These included BHEL, up 5.60 percent at Rs.142.35; Coal India, up 3.02 percent at Rs.293.50; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), up 2.45 percent at Rs.833.65; Tata Power, up 2.22 percent at Rs.78.25; and Hero MotoCorp, up 2.07 percent at Rs.2,052.35.
The main losers were: Wipro, down 3.61 percent at Rs.455.35; Tata Steel, down 1.55 percent at Rs.298.25; ITC, down 1.32 percent at Rs.331.55; Infosys, down 1.17 percent at Rs.3,028.25; and ICICI Bank, down 1.10 percent at Rs.940.55.
Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.12 percent up, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended the day's trade 0.17 percent down. China's Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.86 percent.
In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.34 percent down, while Germany's DAX Index was 0.21 percent lower. The French CAC 40 Index was 0.21 percent down.