Sensex closes 17 points down on growth worries

Mumbai -  A benchmark index for the Indian equities markets Friday closed 17 points down on global growth concerns. Realty, metal and consumer durable stocks were the worst  performers.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened in the positive at 17,546.04 points, closed 17,521.12 points, down 0.10 percent or 17.55 points from  its previous close at 17,538.67 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also was down 0.19 percent at 5,316.95 points.

The BSE realty index was down 21.23 points, metal index was down 120.73 points while the consumer durable index was down 70.36 points.

India markets turned negative taking cues from weak global peers as monetary policy easing by the central banks in China, Britain and eurozone signalled that the global economic growth  may decline further.

In a coordinated move, the European Central Bank Thursday cut key policy rate by 0.25 percent, the People's Bank of China reduced one-year deposit rate by 0.25 percent and the Bank of  England raised bond purchase target by $78 billion to ease interest rates.

The major Sensex losers were Jindal Steel, down 3.17 percent at Rs.455.15; Sterlite Inds, down 2 percent at Rs.107.55; Tata Power, down 1.99 percent at Rs.103.45; Maruti Suzuki, down 1.93

percent at Rs.1,216.70; and Hero MotoCorp, down 1.74 percent at Rs.2,084.65.

The main gainers were ICICI Bank, up 1.55 percent at Rs.935.20; HDFC, up 1.27 percent at Rs.683.65; Mahindra and Mahindra, up 1.16 percent at Rs.731.10; Hindustan Unilever, up 1.15

percent at Rs.445.20; Cipla, up 1.08 percent at Rs.327.95.

In the Asian region, the Japan's Nikkei closed down 0.65 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.04 percent and China's Composite index rose 1.01 percent.

At closing bell here, European markets were trading in the red. France's CAC was down 0.83 percent, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE 100 were trading 0.87 percent 0.38 percent lower  respectively.