MUMBAI: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today pared early gains to close 25 points lower due to selling in realty and banking stocks on concerns over rising inflation. The 30-share barometer lost 25.50 points to close at 17,730.24 points.

Earlier in the day, it touched a high of 17,845.65 points. The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty ended 2.55 points lower at 5,320.60 points.
Brokers said trading sentiment turned weak following reports that food inflation rose for the week ended June 12. A high inflation may prompt the Reserve Bank to raise its policy rates even before the monetary policy review in July.
A weakening trend in the Asian region followed by lower opening at European markets also dampened the sentiment, brokers said. Selling pressure was also noticed as speculators indulged in reducing their pending long positions on expiry of current month contracts in the derivatives segment, they added.
The global stock markets hurt by a downbeat assessment by the US Federal Reserve and record low US home sale raised fears about the state of the economic growth. The Federal Reserve said that “financial conditions have become less supportive of growth.” Sales of new homes in the US declined in May to a record low as a tax credit expired and the Fed signaled Europe’s debt may harm American growth. In 30-BSE index components, 18 closed with losses. Stocks in realty, oil and gas, banks and metal suffered the most.
It was a choppy session for the markets as they fluctuated for a major part of the day in a narrow band of 100 points.  The market opened on a negative note, down by 5 points but immediately recovered for some time. Selling pressure was seen in realty, banks, oil and gas and metal stocks. FMCG, capital goods and pharma stocks saw some bit of buying interest.
Immense volatility was witnessed in late trade as traders rolled over positions in the derivatives segment from the near-month June 2010 contracts to July 2010 contracts. June 2010 derivatives contracts expired today.
Asian stocks were mixed. The key benchmark indices in Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan rose between 0.05 pc to 0.82 pc. But, the key benchmark indices in China, Singapore, and Hong Kong fell between 0.12 pc to 0.86 pc.
The market breadth, though positive, weakened when compared to a strong breadth earlier in the day. On BSE, 1552 shares advanced while 1326 declined. A total of 89 shares remained unchanged. In the pack of 30-shares, 18 stocks fell and the rest rose.
The turnover was of Rs 4989 crore, higher than Rs 4058.64 crore yesterday.