Mumbai, Aug 9 (IANS) A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Thursday closed almost 40 points lower on poor industrial production data that fuelled fears about growth.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,612.08 points, closed at 17,560.87 points, 0.23 percent or 39.69 points down from its previous day's close at 17,600.56 points.

The Sensex, which was ruling over 100 points in early trade, touched a high of 17,702.98 points and a low of 17,516.99 points intra-day. The BSE midcap was down 16.08 points and the small cap was down 27.24 points.

The BSE oil and gas index was down 87.76 points. However, the FMCG index was up 72.59 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 0.28 percent down at 5,322.95 points.

Bharti Airtel was the biggest Sensex loser and closed 6.40 percent down at Rs.256.85. The telecom major had posted a 37 percent fall in net profit in the first quarter Wednesday.

The other main losers were SBI, down 4.33 percent at Rs.1,971.95; HDFC, down 3.63 percent at Rs.694.90; RIL, down 1.31 percent at Rs.780.30; and Wipro, down 1.24 percent at Rs.345.75.

The major gainers were Sterlite Inds, up 3.36 percent at Rs.109.20; Mahindra & Mahindra, up 2.87 percent at Rs.743.50; Tata Power, up 2.55 percent at Rs.100.55; Hindustan Unilever, up 2.38 percent at Rs.487.30; and Coal India, up 2.03 percent at Rs.352.45.

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 1.10 percent up while Shanghai's composite index closed 0.61 percent higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed 1.02 percent up.

At closing bell here, European markets were in the red. France's CAC was down 0.21 percent. Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE 100 were down 0.64 percent and 0.13 percent respectively.