Sensex down 209 points, FMCG stocks plunge

Mumbai, Feb 28: A benchmark index of Indian equities markets, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex), Saturday traded 209 points or 0.72 percent down in late afternoon trade after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget for 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha.

The Sensex of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 29,411.33 points, was trading at 29,011.09 points (at 2.00 p.m.) in the late afternoon trade session, down 209.03 points or 0.72 percent from the previous day's close at 29,220.12 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 29,560.32 points and a low of 28,882.02 points in the intra-day trade so far.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also declined during the late afternoon trade session. It was down 67.30 points or 0.76 percent at 8,777.30 points.

On Saturday, heavy selling pressure was observed in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), capital goods, consumer durables, metal and power indices of the BSE.

However, healthy buying took place in bank, oil and gas and information technology.

The S&P BSE FMCG index plunged 417.95 points, followed by capital goods index which declined 313.35 points, consumer durables index was lower by 230.72 points, metal index lost 91.11 points and power index was down 47.29 points.

However, S&P BSE bank index gained 232.93 points, oil and gas index was higher by 48.59 points and IT index was augmented by 41.12 points.