Ahead of earnings on Thursday, Tata Motors was down 3 percent and HPCL fell 2 percent but Aurobindo Pharma gained 1 percent.
The market extended losses for second consecutive session Wednesday, with the Sensex falling more than 200 points intraday as investors focussed on corporate earnings and crude oil prices.
Banks, metals, oil & gas and select auto stocks pushed the market lower, whereas select technology and pharma stocks outperformed.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 151.95 points to close at 33,218.81.
The 50-share NSE Nifty managed to hold 10,300-mark. It fell 47 points to end at 10303.20 after hitting an intraday low of 10,285.50.
"Nifty has reached closer to immediate support around 10,250 so we may see a pause in the next session," Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities said.
He suggests keeping caution and limiting leveraged positions, citing volatility on stock specific front.
The broader markets fell more than benchmarks on weak breadth. About two shares declined for every share rising on the NSE. The Nifty Midcap lost 0.64 percent.
Ahead of earnings on Thursday, Tata Motors was down 3 percent and HPCL fell 2 percent but Aurobindo Pharma gained 1 percent.
PSU Bank index was down 2 percent after disappointing numbers from Oriental Bank of Commerce (down 5 percent) and ahead of earnings by SBI (down 1.5 percent) on Friday.
Metals stocks were under pressure as the Nifty Metal slipped 1.5 percent. Vedanta was down 4 percent and Hindalco declined 1.4 percent.
Sun Pharma gained 2 percent after subsidiary Taro posted in-line earnings. Axis Bank rallied 3.4 percent ahead of board meeting to consider fund raising plan on Friday.
Bharti Airtel was down 3.7 percent as media reports indicated that Three Pillars Pte Ltd, an affiliate of the Qatar Foundation, may have sold its 5 percent stake (about 19.99 crore shares) through block deals in early trade today. The stake was valued at over Rs 10,000 crore.
Vedanta, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and HDFC among others fell 1-4 percent whereas Bharti Infratel, Asian Paints, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Cipla and IndusInd Bank gained 1-4 percent.
Ashok Leyland declined 2 percent as September quarter earnings missed analyst expectations. Bharat Forge rose 2 percent post better-than-expected numbers.
Arvind was down 9 percent on profit booking post weak earnings and announcement of demerger of branded apparel (Arvind Fashions) & engineering businesses (Anveshan). Both will be listing on BSE and NSE soon. The stock had rallied 14 percent before the announcement.
InterGlobe Aviation was down 2 percent after passenger was assaulted at IndiGo staff.
On the global front, Brent crude futures traded flat at USD 63.66 a barrel against previous close. Asian markets ended mixed while European stocks were flat at the time of writing this article.
