In a dull trading session, the benchmark Sensex today edged 1.30 points down to 28,442.71 on alternate bouts of buying and selling, amid mixed global cues.
Shares of auto, realty, power, refinery and capital goods sectors firmed up while IT and telecom shares declined.
Mid-cap and small-cap scrips rose on good buying with its indices gaining 1.39 per cent and 1.64 per cent respectively.
The BSE Sensex resumed slightly higher at 28,472.32 and moved up further to 28,504.65 on initial buying following overnight gains in US market and foreign capital inflows.
However, the barometer failed to maintain initial gains and dropped to 28,370.73 on fag-end selling before concluding at 28,442.71, showing a marginal loss of 1.30 points.
Investors preferred to book profit in select counters as RBI kept the policy rates unchanged yesterday in its monetary policy meeting, said traders.
However, the 50-share Nifty finished 12.95 points, or 0.15 per cent, higher at 8,537.65.
“We believe the Nifty would consolidate further in the coming days but the overall bias would remain on the positive side till Nifty is holding above 8,350 mark,” said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution, Religare Securities.
Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors bought shares worth net Rs 106.82 crore yesterday, showed provisional data.
Asian stocks ended mixed as key benchmark indices in Hongkong and Singpaore eased by 0.57 per cent to 0.95 per cent while indices in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan moved up by 0.21 per cent to 1.55 per cent.
Global markets : Stocks rose and the euro hit its weakest in more than two years on Wednesday, a day before a crucial European Central Bank meeting that may pave the way for more monetary easing in the euro zone.
The dollar touched its highest against a basket of six major currencies since 2009.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.2 per cent at 0854 GMT, though top benchmark indexes in Britain and France were down slightly.
The MSCI Emerging Market index was down 0.3 per cent, with the stronger dollar and oil's recent slide keeping pressure on emerging-market currencies.