After much volatility through the day, the Indian markets closed marginally in the red on Thursday dragged down by poor performance of index stocks including Infosys and Reliance.
The BSE Sensex closed at 19,519.49 down 49 points (- 0.25 per cent) and the NSE Nifty closed at 5,921.40 down 2 points (-0.04 per cent).
Except banks, realty and capital goods, all sectoral indices closed in the red on the BSE led by healthcare index which fell the most by 1.19 per cent.
Alex Mathews, Head Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said: "The markets opened weak tracking global cues but saw a minor recovery in the second half owing to short covering and buying in selected counters."
"The Bank Nifty entered the over sold region and we can expect possible pull back in banking stocks tomorrow," he added.
On the NSE, Reliance Infra, HCL Tech, Axis Bank, Ambuja Cements and Bank of Baroda were the top gainers while Airtel, Lupin, Infy, SunPharma and NTPC were the top losers.