Mumbai, Aug 10 - Fears of deficient monsoon rains hampering India's economic turnaround prompted investors to push the sell button at the equities markets Monday, forcing a key index to move down one percent below its last closing figure.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 15,287.14 points, ended trade at 15,009.77 points, down 150.47 points or 0.99 percent from its last closing figure.

Similarly, the Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) shut shop in the red at 4,437.65 points, down 0.98 percent.

Broader market indices, too, came under selling pressure with the BSE midcap index closing 1.71 percent down, while the BSE smallcap index ended 1.95 percent lower.

According to the India Meteorological Department, the cumulative seasonal rainfall for the country as a whole during June 1-Aug 5 has been 25 percent below the long period average (LPA).

'Below normal rains are expected to weigh heavily on investor sentiment,' according to a report by brokerage Angel Broking.

Said Sajjan Jindal, president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham): 'If the monsoon deficiency increases to 22 percent, the agriculture sector could post a negative growth of 6 percent and the overall GDP (gross domestic product) growth could decline to 4.7 percent.'

Of the 13 sectoral indices on the BSE, auto, FMCG and capital goods stocks lost the most as these came under greater selling pressure.