Indian equities closed on a negative note on Thursday, Aug 28 because of intense selling pressure witnessed across capital goods and oil & gas stocks on August series F&O expiry day.

In the meantime, some profit booking was also seen in heavyweights including RIL, RComm, Hindalco and increasing crude oil rates in global market also weighed down the reaction of the stock market.

After starting the day on a pessimistic note at 14,289.97, down 6.82 points, the stock index remained weak during the whole day.

Finally, the Sensex closed the day after losing 248.45 points at 14,048.34. It also touched an intra-day high of 14,347.19 and an intra-day low of 14,002.43.

In contrast, the broad-based NSE Nifty lost 78.10 points at 4,214.00. It touched an intra-day high of 4,304.50 and an intra-day low of 4,201.85.

The overall breadth of the stock market breadth was downbeat. The market saw 898 advancements as against 1,721 declinations.

The major gainers in the 30-share index included Maruti Suzuki India, which profited 0.61%, Satyam Computer Services gained 0.52%, Ranbaxy Laboratories surged 0.51%, Tata Power Company zoomed 0.44% and ITC climbed 0.05%.

On the other hand, the major losers’ list included Hindalco Industries, which declined 12.60%, Reliance Industries lost 3.45%, Reliance Energy rejected 3.15%, Bharat Heavy Electricals dropped 3.12%, Tata Consultancy Services slumped 3.05% and Reliance Communications dangled 2.98%.

For the week ended Aug. 16, 2008, the wholesale price index inflation dropped down marginally to 12.40%, as against 12.63% during the last week because of prices of primary articles remained unaltered and a fall in oil prices.