The 30-share index, which had climbed to three-year high in the previous session, fell by 28.92 points, or 0.14 per cent to 20,864.97. The gauge shuttled between 20,948.91 and 20,810.25 intra-day but prevailing caution forced investors from taking fresh long positions, traders said.
In Sensex, 15 stocks ended lower and 14 climbed, while Tata Motors remained unchanged. Reliance Industries dropped 1.07 per cent to Rs 903.60, after gaining more than five per cent in the last three sessions. Hero MotoCorp shares lost 1.37 per cent to end at Rs 2,069.95 before quarterly earnings.
The global mood today, however, was tepid with the US Labor Department expected to announce the jobs data at 8:30 a.M. Washington time. The US Fed is expected to hold policy meetings on October 29-30 and December 17-18. Stocks mostly stayed weak in Asian and the opening was also lower in Europe.
The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty declined 2.15 points, or 0.03 per cent, to end at 6,202.80, after moving between 6,220.10 and 6,181.80. MCX-SX's SX-40 index closed at 12,403.16, up 4.3 points or 0.03 per cent.
On the other hand, Power, Capital goods, PSU, IT, Teck, Bank, Healthcare and Metal sector indices ended better and saved the market from any major fall.