Benchmark indices lost ground in trade after six straight days of gain, in which the index gained heavy ground.

Profit booking was seen in index heavyweight stocks like ITC and Reliance Industries. The Sensex ended the day lower by 182 points, while the Nifty closed lower by 48 points.

Check Sensex gainers and losers

Metal stocks continued to rally with top Nifty gainers coming from the metal space. Hindalco, Vedanta and Tata Steel, were all gainers from the metal space.

HCL Tech which had fallen sharply in the last few trading sessions ended the day higher. However, most of the other software stocks ended the day subdued.

Among the non index stocks, Man Industries surged 5 per cent, following the announcement of orders for the company.

Reliance Infrastructure ended the day flat despite reports that the company was selling a cement unit. Mid cap stocks also ended the day weak with stocks like Apollo Hospitals, Century Textiles, Bajaj Finance and Amar Raja Batteries among the top losers.

Meanwhile, markets across Asia ended the day slightly weak, though the Chinese Shanghai Composite was up almost 3 per cent. Most of Europe was trading flat ahead of the US Fed Minutes of meeting.

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