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The Sensex and the Nifty ended the session marginally in the red due to profit-taking by funds and retail investors after eight-day rally amid weak global cues.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended at 27,085.93, down 54.01 points and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended at 8,095.95, down 18.65 points.
Brokers said the market was in over-bought position following recent record-setting spree on robust capital inflows and participants preferred to lock in gains at current levels, pulling down the key indices from record highs.
They said the fall was also attributed to a weak trend in global markets on profit-taking following a rally in yesterday’s trade.
Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index fell the most by 4.42 per cent, followed by metal 1.5 per cent and capital goods 1.00 per cent. On the other hand, healthcare, FMCG and consumer durables indices found investors' support and were up 0.49 per cent, 0.26 per cent and 0.13 per cent, respectively.
Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, HDFC and Axis Bank were the top five Sensex gainers, while the top five losers were BHEL, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and GAIL.
Most European stocks fell, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipping from an almost two-month high, as investors awaited the European Central Bank’s next steps on interest rates and quantitative easing. US index futures and Asian shares were little changed.
The Stoxx 600 fell 0.1 per cent to 344.47 at 10.33 a.m. in London. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures was up less than 0.1 per cent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.1 per cent.
While the European Central Bank is unlikely to take action on Thursday, any hint from President Mario Draghi that the bank is readying such a programme could drive down the euro.
The Bank of Japan maintained its policy on Thursday, leaving its massive stimulus programme unchanged. The Bank of England also meets today and is expected to leave policy alone.
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) is likely to move to a single supervisory mechanism for its 19-member countries in two months.
Sabine Lautenschläger, Member - Executive Board, ECB, in a speech on Wednesday had said: “The asset quality review has already given us a deeper insight into the banks’ procedures, thereby making it possible for us to check “which differences between banks are justified and to ascertain where we need to probe critically. The heads of Joint Supervisory Teams will come from a country other than that in which the institution it is supervising is established. In concrete terms: the head supervisor for Deutsche Bank will be a French lady; BNP Paribas will be supervised by an Italian man.”
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