The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange declined 274 points, or 1.6 percent, to 17,363, on profit-booking ahead of state assembly election results, and amid weak Asian and European markets, today. The Nifty at the National Stock Exchange fell 79 points, or 1.5 percent, to 5,280. Stock markets in Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore dropped between 0.1 percent and 1.4 percent after China lowered its GDP growth target for the first time in seven years, to 7.5 per cent.