A benchmark index of Indian equities market fell for the third consecutive day Friday, a day after it tanked 252 points on profit booking.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 20,819.91 points, closed at 20,851.33 points, down 37 points or 0.18 percent from its previous day’s close at 20,888.33 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 20,885.18 points and a low of 20,731.33 during the day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed trade 10.00 points or 0.16 percent down at 6,211.15 points.

Heavy selling pressure was observed during the day in capital goods, automobile and metal scrips.

However, information technology, technology, entertainment and media and healthcare stocks gained.

The S&P BSE capital goods index was down 170.66 points, while the automobile index was lower by 140.65 points and metal index decreased by 118.38 points.

The IT index made healthy gains in Friday’s trade and closed higher by 197.72 points, followed by TECk index which was up 98.65 points and healthcare index which edged higher by 69.23 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), up 2.76 percent at Rs.2,222; Infosys, up 2.61 percent at Rs.3,565.45; Maruti Suzuki, up 1.65 percent at Rs.1,798.55; Sun Pharma, up 1.05 percent at Rs.579.95 and HDFC Bank, up 0.99 percent at Rs.663.35.

The main losers were: Mahindra and Mahindra, down 3.85 percent at Rs.900.05; Tata Power, down 3.83 percent at Rs.84.05; Tata Motors, down 2.49 percent at Rs.362.70; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), down 2.33 percent at Rs.1,012.25; and NTPC, down 2.22 percent at Rs.132.

Among the Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.69 percent up and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.24 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index went down by 1.24 percent.

In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was trading 0.33 percent up. And, so were Germany’s DAX Index, higher by 0.48 percent, and the French CAC 40 Index, up by 0.70 percent.

  capital goods, Sensex, stocks fall