Sensex closes 84 points below

The benchmark on Friday closed down 84 points in alternative bouts of buying and selling as investors looked for clear directions.

The unexpected drop in the U.S. jobs data for October, which disappointed Wall Street overnight, led to a weak opening in Asia, triggering a negative opening of the Sensex.

As the day progressed, investors booked profits, following negative European cues.

During the day the Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer moved into positive territory and hit a high of 17,291.83 points but could not maintain the steam on selling pressure and fell to a low of 17,032.81 points before ending at 17,101.54 points, falling 84.14 points or 0.49 per cent over its previous close.

Unicon Financial Chief Executive Gajendra Nagpal said, “the fall is not very worrying as the market is not falling in a significant manner despite concerns of high food inflation and withdrawal of stimulus. Also, institutional buyers are putting in money. I feel that going ahead the market would consolidate at the current levels.”

Most of the Asian indices ended narrowly mixed while the Shanghai Composite rose by 1.61 per cent. European markets too were trading lower by nearly 0.5 per cent in their early deals on overnight fall on Wall Street.