Mumbai: In a dull trading session, the benchmark Sensex Wednesday 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 percent and 1.64 percent 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 percent, 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 8350 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 percent to 0.95 percent while indices in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan moved up by 0.21 percent to 1.55 percent.
European markets were also trading narrowly mixed as indices in France and Germany inched up by 0.15-0.24 percent while UK's FTSE was quoting 0.08 percent lower.
Turning to the local market, seventeen out of the 30-share Sensex stocks closed with gains while others finished with losses.
Major Sensex laggards include Dr Reddys 2.43 percent, HDFC 1.83 percent, Bharti Airtel 1.72 percent, Hindalco 1.49 percent, HDFC Bank, 1.09 percent, Hero MotoCorp 0.83 percent, TCS 0.79 percent and ITC 0.63 percent.
However, ONGC rose by 2.98 percent, BHEL 2.50 percent, NTPC percent 1.67 percent, M&M 1.57 percent, HUL 1.55 percent, Gail India 1.35 percent, Axis Bank 1.35 percent, ICICI Bank 1.27 percent and Maruti Suzuki 0.97 percent.
Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, Auto index rose by 1.34 percent, Realty 1.32 percent, Power 1.06 percent, Oil & Gas 0.99 percent and Capital Goods 0.96 percent while IT eased by 0.19 percent and TECK 0.16 percent.
Reflecting rally in second line stocks, total market breadth remained positive as 1,929 counters finished in the green while 1,082 settled in the red and 120 held stable. Total turnover rose to Rs 3,934.91 crore from Rs 3,334.72 croreore yesterday.
