Late selling pressured a benchmark index for Indian equities Friday to close 123 points lower on a lacklustre day of trade. Global markets too exhibited a negative tendency.The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,981.06 points, closed at 17,868.29 points, 123.71 points or 0.69 percent down from its previous close at 17,992 points.
At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty ended at 5,367.6 points, down 0.76 percent from its previous close at 5,408.9 points.
From its previous weekly close, the Sensex lost 1.45 percent, while the Nifty fell 1.5 percent.
Broader markets indices closed with modest gains. The BSE midcap index closed 0.35 percent up and the BSE smallcap index ended 0.2 percent higher.
The market breadth was negative, with 1,352 scrips advancing, compared to 1,592 stocks declining, and 127 remaining unchanged.
Among the gainers on the Sensex were M&M, up 2.7 percent at Rs.661.50; SBI, up 1.24 percent at Rs.2,503.80; HDFC Bank, up 1.22 percent at Rs.2,127.45; and Tata Steel, up 0.68 percent at Rs.537.15.
Among the major losers were Bharti Airtel, down 3.17 percent at Rs.306.90; Hero Honda, down 2.95 percent at Rs.1,815.40; DLF, down 2.59 percent at Rs.301.30, and ICICI Bank, down 2.38 percent at Rs.904.45.
Fears of an American recovery faltering, fuelled by a downbeat forecast by the US Federal Reserve, spooked other major Asian markets.
The Japanese Nikkei closed 1.64 percent lower at 9,537.3 points, while the South Korean Kospi ended 0.65 percent down at 1,759.33 points.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.3 percent at 21,029.81 points, while the Chinese Shanghai Composite index shut shop 0.4 percent lower at 2,637.5 points.
European markets too were in the red on concern about the US economy.
The FTSE was trading 0.53 percent lower at 5,285.83 points, while the German DAX was ruling 0.58 percent down at 6,099.25 points.
The French CAC 40 was ruling 0.46 percent lower at 3,635.21 points.