Among the losers were the banking stocks with PSU banking stocks coming in for a heavy bout of selling pressure. Stocks from the space that lost ground were Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank and Union Bank of India.

Stocks that saw buying interest from the Nifty were Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's Labs, Bharat Heavy and IndusInd Bank.

Larsen and Toubro gained ground after a leading brokerage upgraded the stock to a "buy".

Software stocks did not lend much support to the market in trade, with Infosys falling ahead of its results. Other software stocks that dropped in trade were Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro.

Wockhardt ended the day higher after reports that US FDA officials would visit one of the plants of the company.

Pharma company Claris Lifesciences which gained 4 per cent, after the company announced a buyback of shares and an interim dividend for shareholders, dropped towards the last half hour of trade.

MCX gained sharply in trade after reports that Blackstone GPV Capital Partners (Mauritius) bought a 2.79 percent stake in the company.

Realty stocks came in for some severe selling pressure with Sobha Developers and Unitech among the losers.

Meanwhile, Asia had a mixed day in trade with the Shanghai Composite and the Hong Kong's Hang Sang gaining ground, while the Japanese Nikkei lost ground.

GoodReturns.in