The benchmark Sensex ended marginally lower as optimism about an improving global economy was offset by caution ahead of the start of the domestic corporate results season next week.

Domestic investors are awaiting corporate results, including from Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Infosys Ltd that are scheduled next week, amid signs the economy is recovering after the withdrawal of high-denomination currency bills in late 2016 and the introduction of a national goods and services tax last year.

“Market is moving on global cues. Until results start coming out, it will be fundamentally moving on external factors,” said Jayant Manglik, president, retail distribution, Religare Broking.

“This earnings season will be the most important in a long time as expectation is that impact of demonetisation and GST would have been completely absorbed.”

The Sensex opened a shade higher at 33,929.61 and advanced to 33,998.37, before falling to a low of 33,765.43. It recovered some lost ground on value-buying and finally ended the day at 33,793.38, down 18.88 points, or 0.06 per cent.The gauge had lost 244.57 points in the previous two sessions.

The broader NSE Nifty finished at 10,443.20, up just 1 point, or 0.01 per cent. Intra-day, it hovered between 10,503.60 and 10,429.55.

Barring auto, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the positive zone. Among them, metal index gained the most by 1.47 per cent, followed by capital goods 1.22 per cent, realty 1.21 per cent and consumer durables 0.98 per cent, while auto index was down 0.26 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were Adani Ports (+2.78%), L&T (+2.17%), ICICI Bank (+1.88%), YES Bank (+1.33%) and Coal India (+0.72%), while the major losers were Dr Reddy's (-2.97%), Wipro (-2.73%), ONGC (-1.65%), Bajaj Auto (-1.61%) and Maruti (-1.35%).

Early trade

Domestic shares took cues from strong Asian markets. which rose on expectations of an improvement in the global economy, but the gains were capped ahead of key corporate results starting next week.

Trading sentiment was buoyed as Nikkei India Manufacturing PMI rose to 54.7 in December 2017 from 52.6 in November on the back of robust improvement in the health of the sector since December 2012.

Widespread buying by domestic insitutional investors and foreign funds also boosted investor sentiment. FIIs bought shares worth Rs 522.74 crore on net basis yesterday.

Market heavyweight Reliance Industries Ltd contributed the most to index gains after it said on Tuesday it commissioned a refinery off-gas cracker at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

Metal stocks continued to rise with the Nifty Metal index gaining as much as 1.8 per cent to a record high. Hindalco Industries Ltd and Vedanta Ltd were among the top percentage gainers on the Nifty 50.

Gains in riskier assets

The gains in riskier assets came as industry surveys from Germany and Canada showed quickening activity. The MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 per cent, having jumped 1.4 per cent on Tuesday in its best performance since last March.

Asian stocks struck a fresh decade high as risk appetites were whetted by a bevy of upbeat manufacturing surveys that confirmed a synchronised upturn in world growth was well under way. MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up another 0.1 per cent, having jumped 1.4 per cent on Tuesday in its best performance since last March.

Wall Street started the new year as it ended the old, scoring another set of record closing peaks. The Dow rose 0.42 per cent, while the S&P 500 gained 0.83 per cent and the Nasdaq 1.5 per cent.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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