The Nifty ended the day lower by 17 points.

Infosys surged over 16 per cent, after reporting a spectacular set of Q3 FY 13 results. This improved sentiments in the IT sector, which also saw sharp gains from TCS, Wipro and HCL Technologies.

All the other sectors, however, ended the day in the red with sharp losses in frontline stocks from the FMCG space. ITC and Hindustan Unilever were the worst hit, with both the stocks dropping as investors sold into defensives.

Other defensive stocks that lost ground were HDFC and HDFC Bank. PSU banking stocks which have been in the limelight for the last few trading sessions, also saw profit booking with Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, IOB, Oriental Bank and Union Bank losing ground.

Realty stocks also saw selling pressure with HDIL, Anant Raj, DLF, India Bulls and Unitech among the losers.

Metal stocks too saw losses, except Sterlite Industries which gained following an upgrade by Morgan Stanley.

Shares of United Spirits was down more than 1 per cent, after reports that SEBI believed it violated local rules.

Oil and gas exploration companies and oil marketing companies saw profit booking, after the government did not announce any diesel price hike. Losers from the space included ONGC, BPCL, HPCL and Indian Oil.

Shares of Hindustan Motors dropped despite the board of the company approving demerger of the Chennai car plant to subsidiary.

Meanwhile, markets in Europe were trading firm despite the ECB keeping rates steady. The German DAX, French CAC, the UK's FTSE were all trading higher.

Asian market closed mixed with the Japanese market closing higher, while the Chinese and the Hong Kong markets lost ground.

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