Mumbai, Sep 5 (IANS): A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Friday closed the day's trade down 59 points or 0.22 percent as automobile stocks dipped.

Healthy buying was observed in capital goods, metal, information technology (IT), oil and gas and healthcare sectors, while selling pressure was seen in banking and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sectors.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 27,127.26 points, closed trade at 27,026.70 points, down 59.23 points or 0.22 percent from the previous day's close at 27,085.93 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 27,178.80 points and a low of 26,920.56 points in the intra-trade.

The S&P BSE automobile index fell by 115.46 points, bank index dropped by 55.75 points and FMCG index slipped by 23.63 points.

However, capital goods index gained by 131.81 points, metal index was up 85.52 points, IT index was higher by 52.88 points, oil and gas index moved up 32.52 points and healthcare index augumented by 26.97 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed in red. It ended the day's trade 9.10 points or 0.11 percent down at 8,086.85 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Bajaj Auto, up 1.46 percent at Rs.2,335.20; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), up 1.27 percent at Rs.1,609.25; ONGC, up 1.12 percent at Rs.442.50; State Bank of India (SBI), up 1.10 percent at Rs.2,515.40; and Cipla, up 1.00 percent at Rs.557.30.

The losers were: Hero MotoCorp, down 2.16 percent at Rs.2,764.95; HDFC, down 2.10 percent at Rs.1,057.50; Coal India, down 1.80 percent at Rs.371.25; BHEL, down 1.50 percent at Rs.223.60; and ICICI Bank, down 1.46 percent at Rs.1,548.35.

In Asian markets, Nikkei closed 0.05 percent down, while Hong Kong's Hang Sang closed 0.23 percent lower, however China's Shanghai Composite index higher by 0.85 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was down 0.69 percent, Germany's DAX Index was 0.18 percent lower, and France's CAC 40 was fell by 0.30 percent.