Mumbai, Aug 28 (IANS): A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed 66 points lower Tuesday, tracking weak European markets. Metal, capital goods and banking stocks were the worst performers.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,676.13 points, closed 17,612.78 points (provisional), 0.37 percent or 66.03 points down from its previous day's close at 17,678.81 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 17,712.35 points and a low of 17,570.71 points in intra-day trade.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 0.41 percent down at 5,328.45 points.

On the sectoral front, the BSE metal index was down 277.90 points, the capital goods index down 184.57 points, and banking index down 132.97.

The main Sensex losers were Sterlite Inds, down 5.36 percent at Rs.104.25; Jindal Steel, down 5 percent at Rs.358.30; Hindalco Inds, down 3.09 percent at Rs.106.65; Larsen and Toubro, down 2.76 percent at Rs.1359; and ONGC, down 2.49 percent at Rs.280.45.

The major gainers were TCS, up 2.34 percent at Rs.1,350; Tata Power, up 1.55 percent at Rs.98.20; Sun Pharma, up 1.54 percent at Rs.680.15; NTPC, up 1.48 percent at Rs.171.40; and Dr Reddy's Lab, up 1.31 percent at Rs.1,694.

Other Asian markets closed mixed. Japan's Nikkei was down 0.57 percent while Shanghai's composite index ended 0.85 percent higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.07 percent.

Among European markets, France's CAC was down 0.48 percent and so was Germany's DAX, down by 0.48 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.12 percent.