Indian equities, the Sensex and the Nifty, ended the session down by about 0.4 per cent amid firm European cues.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 83.29 points (0.42 per cent) at 19,667.90 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 28.15 points (0.47 per cent) at 5,959.10.
Volume toppers were SBI, RIL, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and HDFC. Top five Sensex gainers were Sun Pharma, GAIL, Bajaj Auto, Cipla and SBI, while the top five losers were BHEL, Bharti Airtel, Sterlite, Tata Motors and Tata Power.
Except healthcare, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the red. Among them, consumer durables index was down 1.68 per cent, followed by FMCG 0.83 per cent and power 0.83 per cent. On the other hand, healthcare index was up 0.84 per cent.
Asian shares were down due to profit-taking by investors after recent strong rallies in the face of weak US data and woes that a potential political shake-up could disrupt the Euro Zone's efforts to resolve its debt crisis.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 213.43 points or 1.9 per cent at 11,046.92, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 468.05 points or 1.98 per cent at 23,216.96.
European stocks rebounded from their biggest plunge in more than three months, as companies from Munich Re to BP Plc reported earnings.
Stoxx 50 was up 0.48 per cent at 2,637.77, FTSE 100 was up 0.42 per cent at 6,272.79 and DAX was up 0.11 per cent at 7,630.15.