The Sensex on Friday fell below the 17k mark to end the week at 16,994.60 after losing 271.27 points on the back of profit booking by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).

On the other hand, the Nifty ended below 51k at 5093.50 with a loss of 85.40 points.

On Friday, the broad-based Nifty saw continued selling action during the second half, mainly after opening of European bourses.

European markets also remained weak (1.5-3%), at the time of closing of Indian stock markets on conjecture that fiscal austerity in some Eurozone nations may repress finacial development.

The Euro was hovering around its 14-month low as compared to the dollar. Even crude oil prices fell to $72.92 per barrel.

Chasing feeble European stocks and lower US index futures, the major heavyweight stocks fell down to touch their new intraday lows in late trade.

The overall breadth of the stock remained weak as it witnessed 2054 declinations as against 818 progressions.

The stock market moved up soon after an initial slide actuated by weak Asian stocks. The market once again fell into the negative zone in early trade. The Sensex hit a fresh intraday day high in morning trade. The market shed gains later after hitting a fresh intraday high. The stock market cut losses in mid-afternoon trade and slumped in late trade.

During the day, the BSE 30-share Sensex hit an intraday high of 17,329.32 and an intraday low of 16,923.65. The Nifty touched an intraday high of 5,192.75 and an intraday low of 5070.95.

The NSE F and O clocked turnover of Rs 99457.1 crore and its Cash turnover stood at Rs 13057.84 crore while the BSE Cash turnover was Rs 3952.33 crore.

Among the sectoral indices, the BSE Metal index dipped 3.48%, Realty index slipped 2.49%, Oils and Gas index fell 1.95%, Bankex index dropped 1.85%, Auto index declined 1.22% and PSU index remained weak by 1.09%.

The top losers list included Tata Motors, SBI, Sterlite Inds, Hindalco, JP Asso, L&T, RIL, DLF and HUL.

However, a few leading gainers included Bharti Airtel, up by 2.24 per cent to Rs 264.45, ITC by 0.68 per cent to Rs 268.15 and Grasim by 0.25 per cent to Rs 2,637.65. (With Inputs from Agencies)