Mumbai, Jan 14 (IANS): A day after crashing 160 points, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets was trading more than 100 points down in the afternoon trade session Wednesday.

Heavy selling was observed in metal, banking, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), healthcare and oil and gas stocks, while healthy buying was seen in information technology (IT), automobile and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) scrip.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 27,432.14 points, was trading at 27,322.91 points (at 12.00 noon), down 102.82 points or 0.37 percent from the previous day's close at 27,425.73 points.

The Sensex has touched a high of 27,512.80 points and a low of 27,314.26 points in the trade so far.

The S&P metal index lost 254.54 point, banking index was lower by 116.50 points, FMCG index tanked 71.50 points, healthcare index fell by 71 points and oil and gas index slipped by 53.75 points.

However, IT index was up 83.63 points, followed by automobile index gained 59.64 points and TECK index gained 31.64 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also trading in the red. It was down 29.40 points or 0.35 percent at 8,270 points.