The markets took a pause after touching fresh 30-month highs in the early part of the trade.
Building on the 100+ point gains of the previous trading session, the benchmark indices added around half a per cent this morning, only to succumb to tiredness with the passage of time.
The Sensex ended at 18172, down 44 points and Nifty ended at 5447, down 21 points.
The midcap index ended flat at 7522, while the smallcap index gained 44 points at 9561.
Meanwhile, US stocks rose in thin trade on Wednesday as retailers' earnings and a report showing a slight improvement in private employment boosted optimism ahead of Friday's payrolls report.
The Dow gained 44 points to 10,680 and Nasdaq advanced 20 points to 2,303 overnight. But the Asian markets had a mixed session; Hang Seng pared its early gains to end flat, while the Nikkei added 119 points, regaining most of the ground it had lost the day before.
The European markets are trading in the positive though, with the DAX, CAC and FTSE gaining in the region of half a percent each.
Select auto stocks came back into the reckoning after a period of consolidation. Tata Motors gained 2.1% at Rs 860 to emerge as the leading gainer on the BSE, and giving it company was Maruti, which gained 1% at Rs 1225. And IT continued from where it left on the previous day.
TCS strengthened by 0.8% at Rs 877, Wipro added 0.5% at Rs 431 and Infosys inched higher by 0.2% at Rs 2873.
And ITC saw bottom-fishing to end up 0.7% at Rs 156; the FMCG major had adjusted lower for the past two sessions after going ex-bonus.
Continuing its recent downward trajectory, RCom weakened by 2% at Rs 173 to emerge as the top loser on the Sensex.
In the auto pack, M&M ended lower by 1.3% at Rs 645 and Hero Honda ended down 1.2% at Rs 1866. And index heavyweight inched towards the 1000k mark yet again, shedding 0.8% at Rs 1006.
The market breadth was marginally positive.
Out of 3,069 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1,581 advancing stocks as against 1,381 declines.
