Sensex ends 118 points down

Mumbai, Dec 7: A key indian equities index ended trade 118 points in the red on Monday as heavyweight stocks came under selling pressure.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that opened at 17,106.74 points closed at 16,983.14 points, down 118.4 points or 0.69 percent from Friday’s closing at 17,101.54 points.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty closed at 5,066.70 points, against the previous close at 5,108.9 points, a loss of 0.83 percent. Broader market indices were also in the red, with the BSE midcap index closing 0.79 per cent down and the BSE small cap index 0.41 per cent lower.

BJP slams Liberhan panel as biased

New Delhi, Dec 7: The BJP today said the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya was a result of public anger and asserted that it would build a Ram temple at the same site for “national justice”, as it slammed the Liberhan Commission report as “a political document” which is “biased”.

Opening BJP’s defence on the report which has indicted a number of its leaders, party chief Rajnath Singh said in the Lok Sabha that the Liberhan Commission report was “a bundle of grave errors” and its intent appeared to be “pre-decided” and aimed at “character assassination” of certain political leaders and parties. The Commission has reached “bizarre” conclusions, he said during the debate and took strong objection to the adverse comments made against former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and senior leaders L K Advani and M M Joshi.

He said the report was “not unbiased” and said it was a “political document of character assassinations” as legal criteria for indictment had been ignored. “Whatever happened on December 6, 1992, was a result of public anger. There was no mosque at the site since 1936,” he said, amid repeated disruptions caused by objections from Congress and some other parties like Samajwadi Party.