Sensex closes 31 points down

Mumbai -  Snapping a four-day rally, a benchmark index for Indian equities markets closed 31 points lower at 17,398.98 Monday.

Amid volatile trade, the 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,438.68 points Monday, closed at 17,398.98 points, down 0.18 percent or 31  points from its previous close of 17,429.98 points.

In the absence of a domestic trigger or overseas cues, the markets failed to build on Friday's rally of 439 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 17,486.57 points and a low of 17,363.04 in intra-day trade. The midcap index of the BSE rose 55.52 points, while smallcap index closed 71.54 points high.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was down 0.01 percent down at 5,278.60 points.

The FMCG index was down by 104.08 points followed by automobile index, down 52.50 points and IT index down 15.68 points.

ITC was the top loser at the Sensex, down 3.42 percent at Rs.250.10 after the Uttar Pradesh government hiked value added tax on cigarettes to 50 percent.

Other main losers were Jindal Steel, down 2.49 percent at Rs.457.80; Hindustan Unilever, down 1.61 percent at Rs.447.05; Tata Motors, down 1.53 percent at Rs.238.35; TCS, down 1.36

percent at Rs.1,260.20; and Hero MotoCorp, down 1.30 percent at Rs.2,114.35.

Major Sensex gainers were HDFC Bank, up 1.84 percent at Rs.573.85; Bharti Airtel, up 1.59 percent at Rs.309.85; Sterlite Inds, up 1.56 percet at Rs.104.25; BHEL, up 1.31 percent at Rs.235.15;

Tata Steel, up 1.29 percent at Rs.447.

At the closing bell here, European markets were trading in the green. France's CAC was 1.13 percent up, while Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE 100 were trading 0.99 percent and 0.62  percent higher respectively.