MUMBAI (Dow Jones)--Indian shares gave up their early gains to end a tad down Wednesday, as weak local vehicles sales by Tata Motors and a widening trade deficit amid a weaker currency spooked investor sentiment. The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-stock Sensitive Index fell 16.90 points, or 0.1%, to close at 17,301.91, after trading in a range of 17,265.48 to 17,432.33. The National Stock Exchange's 50-stock Nifty declined 9.0 points, or 0.2%, to end at 5,239.15. The trading volume in the BSE's cash segment rose to INR17.79 billion from Monday's INR16.62 billion. The market had a holiday Tuesday. Decliners outnumbered gainers 1,465 to 1,333, while 135 shares remained unchanged. "The weakness in the rupee (versus the dollar) is a real worry, as it may hurt our overall balance of payment," said A.K. Prabhakar, senior vice president at Anand Rathi Securities. The Reserve Bank of India likely intervened in the currency market Wednesday to stem the rupee's slide as the dollar strengthened above the psychological level of INR53.00, dealers said. Prabhakar said the fall in March exports is another cause for concern India's merchandise exports fell 5.7% to $28.7 billion in March from a year earlier, while its imports grew 24.2% to $42.6 billion, government data showed Tuesday. This widened the country's trade deficit to $13.9 billion in March from $3.8 billion a year earlier. Trade gap for the fiscal year ended March 31 increased to $184.9 billion from $118.6 billion. Prabhakar expects the Sensex to trade between 16,995 and 17,820 and the Nifty to move in a 5,150-5,400 range during the rest of this week. Car and commercial vehicles maker Tata Motors fell 3.8% to INR304.65 after its local sales in April fell 5% to 57,305 units. Auto maker Maruti Suzuki India closed 2.8% down at INR1,332. However, two wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp ended 0.5% up at INR2,245.00 after it posted a 7% rise in its two-wheeler sales to 551,557 in April. Software exporters rose due to the falling rupee, with Tata Consultancy services up 1.8% at INR1,267.70 and Infosys gaining 0.4% to INR2,471.25. Bharti Airtel rose 2.5% to INR317.95 after its quarterly results showed a surge in telephone call traffic and strong user additions in India. Consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever rose 2.1% to INR425.00 after its fourth-quarter net profit rose by a better-than-expected 21% to INR6.87 billion. -By Raghavendra Upadhyaya; Dow Jones Newswires; 91 22 61456103; raghavendra.upadhyaya@dowjones.com

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