The Sensex and Nifty snapped four straight sessions of gains to close lower on Thursday, since factory activity decelerated sharply last month as demonetisation led to a rationing of cash and cooled domestic consumption, new orders and production.

The broader NSE index ended down 31.6 points or 0.38 per cent at 8,192.90, while the benchmark BSE index closed 92.89 points or 0.35 per cent lower at 26,559.92.

Among BSE sectoral indices, metal index fell the most by 1.69 per cent, power 1.57 per cent, banking 1.16 per cent and realty 1.11 per cent. On the other hand, healthcare index was up 0.34 per cent, FMCG 0.18 per cent and capital goods 0.04 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were GAIL (+2.87%), Sun Pharma (+1.62%), Hero MotoCorp (+1.45%), Dr Reddy's (+1.29%) and ONGC (+1.11%), while the major losers were Power Grid (-3.96%), Asian Paints (-3.18%), Tata Motors (-2.44%), M&M (-2.19%) and ICICI Bank (-2.13%).

Investors largely ignored data released late on Wednesday that showed gross domestic product expanded by an annual 7.3 per cent between July and September, given most analysts expect that to reverse this quarter after India withdrew higher-value banknotes.

“Markets will remain lacklustre for the next few sessions until we get some clarity from the RBI policy meet next week," said Jayant Manglik, president, retail distribution, Religare Securities.

A report by East India Securities said: "Global markets rallied led by a sharp jump in oil prices after OPEC announced ~4.5% production cut. This is likely to stabilise oil prices. Demand could also spike driven by fiscal stimulus by US. Asian markets are trading up helped by the support for risk assets as equities and commodities do well. Many investors are turning bullish on emerging market equities given the commodity exposure. The view is that equity returns would surpass currency depreciation, if any, hence EM equities are better bet than EM debt. We remain positive on the markets."

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