The Sensex opened with a positive gap of six points at 9,001, which turned out to be the high for the day.
Profit-taking at higher levels saw the index drop to a low of 8,876. Though a small bounce saw the index pare the loss in mid-noon deals, renewed selling towards the close saw the Sensex finally end the session with a loss of 64 points (0.71%) at 8,931.
The Nifty closed at 2,698, down 14 points.
BHEL declined 3% (Rs 45) to Rs 1,423.
Maruti slipped over 2% (Rs 15) to Rs 617. Bajaj declined Rs 50 to Rs 2,070. Tata Motors was down Rs 12 at Rs 575, and Hero Honda was down Rs 7 at Rs 851.
SBI dropped 1.9% (Rs 18) to Rs 916. HLL declined Rs 4 to Rs 188. ITC was down Rs 2 at Rs 137.
While ONGC was up Rs 4 at Rs 1,050, Reliance was up a rupee at Rs 848.
Infosys slipped Rs 23 to Rs 2,732. While TCS was down Rs 4 at Rs 1,543, Wipro dropped Rs 3 to Rs 443. Satyam, however, was up Rs 11 at Rs 674.
Ranbaxy moved up 2.6% (Rs 10) to Rs 390. Reliance Energy added over 2% (Rs 12) to Rs 589. Tata Steel was up Rs 3 at Rs 348. ACC, Gujarat Ambuja and HDFC also finished with gains.