Sensex ends 162 points down

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A benchmark index for Indian equities markets closed around one percent lower in Friday's trade following heavy selling in consumer goods, auto, bank and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,491.49 points, closed at 18,309.37, down 162.00 points or 0.88 percent from its previous close at 18,471.37 points.

"Markets have been week not only in India but globally post the US election results. Concerns on the so-called 'fiscal cliff' in US and on the fiscal situation of even the stronger EU nations like Germany, have kept the sentiment subdued." said Dipen Shah of Kotak Securities.

"In India, the telecom spectrum sale realized a far lesser amount than expected and has raised concerns on the fiscal deficit. Weak exports data has also impacted the current account," Shah added.

The benchmark index touched a high of 18,563.32 points and low of 18,266.76 points intra-day. The BSE midcap index was down 59.77 points and the smallcap index was lower by 81.24 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange slumped 1.01 percent or 56.95 points at 5,574.05 points.

Heavy selling was seen in consumer goods, auto, bank and FMCG stocks.

The auto index was down 158.16 points, while the consumer goods index was lower by 155.83 points, followed by bank index, down 212.62 points, and FMCG index, down 78.44 points.

The major Sensex losers were ICICI Bank, down 2.65 percent at Rs.1,026.50; Tata Motors, down 2.64 percent at Rs.265.05; Cipla, down 2.33 percent at Rs.380.10; Hindustan Uniliver, down 2.27 percent at Rs.521.35; and State Bank of India (SBI), down 2.13 percent at Rs.2,107.50.

Only six of the 30 Sensex scrips closed in the positive.

Among the gainers, were Bharti Airtel, up 3.47 percent at Rs.301.10, Infosys, up 2.08 percent at Rs.2,341.85; Dr Reddy's Lab, up 1.83 percent at Rs.1,757.35; Coal India, up 0.85 percent at Rs.350.95; and ONGC, up 0.77 percent at Rs.255.45 were among the major Sensex gainers.

Among the other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei rose 2.20 percent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.24 percent. However, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.77 percent.

Most European markets were in the red. Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.51 percent. The German DAX was trading lower by 0.57 percent while the French CAC 40 index was 0.25 percent down.