New Delhi, Feb 20 (IANS): A benchmark index of the Indian equities market closed Thursday's trade down 186 points or 0.90 percent, as bank, metal and oil and gas stocks plummeted.

The 30-scrip sensitive (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 20,661.07 points, closed at 20,536.64 points, down 186.33 points or 0.90 percent from its previous day's close of 20,722.97 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 20,662.66 points and a low of 20,522.04 points in the day's trade.

The S&P BSE bank index was down 197.77 points, followed by metal index which was lower by 90.96 points, oil and gas index lower by 74.09 points, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) index declined 58.06 points and information technology (IT) index closed the day's trade down 57.60 point.

However, the capital goods index was up 11.67 points and power index rose marginally by 3.73 points.

The wider 50-scrip NIFTY of the national stock exchange (NSE) closed the day's trade up 61.30 points or 1.00 percent at 6,091.45 points.

The prominent Sensex gainers were Dr Reddy's Lab up 1.82 percent at Rs.2,713.40; Bajaj Auto, up 1.15 percent at Rs.1,844.20; Tata Power, up 0.90 percent at Rs.78.40; BHEL, up 0.27 percent at Rs.151; and Larsen and Toubro (L&T), up 0.21 percent at Rs.1,032.10.

The major losers included ICICI Bank, down 2.15 percent at Rs.1,008.45; Bharti Airtel, down 1.98 percent at Rs.296.85; State Bank of India (SBI), down 1.80 percent at Rs.1,481.50; Tata Steel, down 1.80 percent at Rs.367.30; and HDFC, down 1.63 percent at Rs.792.50.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 2.15 percent down and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.19 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index was lower by 0.18 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.37 percent down, while Germany's DAX Index was lower by 1.28 percent. The French CAC 40 Index declined 0.48 percent.