Sensex tanks 206 points (Roundup)

Mumbai, July 26 (IANS) A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Thursday tanked 206 points as traders exited open positions on the last day of the July F&O (futures and options) series, and from sustained selling in realty and capital goods stocks.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 16,887.84 points, closed at 16,639.82 points, 1.22 percent or 206.23 points down from its previous day's close at 16,846.05 points.

The BSE realty index was down 50.08 points, followed by capital goods index, down 194.52 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 1.30 percent down at 5,043 points.

The main losers were Tata Motors, down 3.80 percent at Rs.204.85; Tata Power, down 2.91 percent at Rs.93.45; Sterlite Inds, down 2.64 percent at Rs.97.75; Wipro, down 2.64 percent at Rs.330.0; and SBI, down 2.58 percent at Rs.2,017.15.

The major Sensex gainers were Sun Pharma, up 2.32 percent at Rs.624; Bajaj Auto, up 1.37 percent at Rs.1,583.10; NTPC, up 1.03 percent at Rs.151.55; Gail India, up 0.77 percent at Rs.346.70; and Maruti Suzuki, up 0.44 percent at Rs.1,107.85.

Other Asian markets witnessed mixed trading. Japan's Nikkei closed 0.92 percent up, while Shanghai's composite index fell 0.48 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.08 percent.

At closing bell here, European markets were in the green. France's CAC was up 2.27 percent and so was Germany's DAX, up 1.43 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 was trading 1.12 percent higher.

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