The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange which opened 60 points in red, was trading 55 points down at 17,324 in the afternoon trade.The Nifty at the National Stock Exchange shed 16 points, to 5,237.In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell by 0.17 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei Index shed 0.42 per cent in the morning trade today.