The benchmark BSE Sensex today saw its first drop in three sessions, falling over 41 points due to profit-booking in auto, oil & gas, PSU and banking stocks, ignoring a rising trend in global markets.
Sustained selling by foreign funds put pressure, too.
The market resumed the day on a weak note due to profit-booking by wary participants after two sessions of a strong rally. This came despite firm Asian stocks tracking the overnight rise on the Wall Street.
The benchmark BSE Sensex bounced back in late-afternoon deals to a high of 27,872.23 after the European Central Bank (ECB) proposed that it may frontload its asset purchase programme.
The 30-share barometer finally settled the day 41.77 points down at 27,645.53, thus snapping two sessions of gains.
Similarly, broader NSE Nifty saw choppy trade before ending lower by 8 points, or 0.10 per cent, at 8,365.65.
"In the absence of any major positive cues, participants preferred to book some profit off the table after two days of rally. However, downside remained capped due to buying in select index heavyweights," said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution, Religare Securities.
In spite of the fall, the total market breadth turned positive following a smart recovery in small-cap stocks on solid buying by retail investors.
HDFC was worst hit at 2.04 per cent, followed by Tata Motors (1.95 per cent). ONGC (1.64 pct), Bajaj Auto (1.02 pct) and HUL (0.84 per cent) were other big Sensex losers.
Among the Sensex gainers, Hero MotoCorp rose 2.16 per cent, Wipro (1.65 per cent) and Vedanta (1.49 per cent).
In Asia, barring Singapore which closed with losses, most other markets ended higher. Chinese shares surged 3.13 per cent on signs of fresh investment from Beijing amid a record close on Wall Street yesterday.
