Sensex plummets 158 points in the afternoon trade

Mumbai, Jun 1: Sensex plunged 158 points in afternoon trade to 10,239.79, as its constituents Bharti Tele-Ventures, L&T, Maruti Udyog, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and Cipla weakened compared to their morning performance.

The sensitive index has fallen due to apprehension over oil price hike and a recent heavy outflow by FIIs. Also the Asian markets lost steam after a firm early trend as key indices in Hong Kong, South Korea and Indonesia slipped into red.

All the sectoral indices at 1415 hrs were in red. The BSE midcap was down 0.97 per cent to 5003.34, smallcap was down 1.73 per cent to 6,254.34, PSu was down by 1.02 per cent to 5183.04, Auto sector was down by 2.15 per cen to 5,183.04 and the BSE Oil&Gas was down by 2.29 per cent to 4,968.98.

The major gainers on the sensex were HDFC, ICICI and BHEL, all gaining between 0.5 to 1.5 per cent.

Besides, the losers on the BSE were, Bharti Tele, L&T, Maruti Udyog, Bajaj Auto, Hindustan Lever Limited, Tata Motors Cipla, TCS, Hindalco and Reliance all of them losing between 2.5 to 7 per cent.

UNI