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The Sensex and the Nifty ended marginally in the red in a volatile session marked by the expiry of monthly derivatives contracts, even as growing concerns over lacklustre corporate earnings hurt the sentiment.
Weak global cues too dampened the domestic sentiment.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended lower by 57.95 points or 0.21 per cent at 27,506.71 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended down by 15.6 points or 0.19 per cent at 8,319.
Sectoral indices
Among BSE sectoral indices, healthcare index fell the most by 1.31 per cent, followed by banking 0.51 per cent, metal 0.38 per cent and infrastructure 0.2 per cent. On the other hand, consumer durables index remained investors' favourite and was up 1.31 per cent, followed by IT 0.67 per cent, TECk 0.41 per cent and FMCG 0.2 per cent.
Gainers, losers
Top five Sensex gainers were VEDL 2.53%, Tata Motors 2.52%, Infosys 2.3%, Hero MotoCorp 1.73% and BHEL 1.16%, while the major losers were Cipla 2.58%, Tata Power 2.18%, Sun Pharma 1.94%, M&M 1.93% and Bharti Airtel 1.76%.
Weak earnings growth posted by Indian companies for the January-March quarter have put investors on guard, worried that a rebound in growth can take longer than expected.
India is expected to release data on Friday that will show the economy growing faster than China for a second consecutive quarter. However, sceptics argue there has been little progress to show on the ground.
Global markets
European shares edged lower at the open on Thursday, giving back some of the late gains made the previous day as optimism about a possible deal between Greece and its creditors faded.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of European shares was down 0.3 per cent at 1,617.55 points at 0734 GMT after a 1.3 per cent rise the previous day.
Greece's Athex General Composite index was down 0.4 per cent.
A report by SMC Investments and Advisors said: "Asian stocks remain mixed, gains led by China and Japan on positive economic data from the West and further easing expectations from central bankers. US stocks touched record highs rallying on tech sector commingled with positive economic data. Retail sales in Japan advanced 5.0 per cent on year in April, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said - coming in at 11.562 trillion yen. That was shy of forecasts for an increase of 5.5 per cent following the 9.7 per cent contraction in March. Sales from large retailers advanced an annual 8.6 per cent to 1.608 trillion yen - also missing expectations for 9.1 per cent after tumbling 13.1 per cent in the previous month."
Asian shares shed gains on Thursday as the Chinese, Hong Kong and Australian markets slipped, while the dollar scaled a 13-year peak against the yen as it rallied on expectations that the US Federal Reserve will raise rates this year.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped about 0.6 per cent.
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