Snapping up its early day gains, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets Wednesday closed in the red - one point lower on weak European cues.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,638.53 points, closed at 17,600.56 points, 0.01 percent or 1.22 points down from its previous day's close at 17,601.78 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 17,726.64 points and a low of 17,582.66 points. The BSE midcap was down 12.07 points and the small cap was down 24.92 points.
The BSE auto index was up 112.28 points. However, the realty index was down 33.88 points.
The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 0.02 percent down at 5,338 points.
Bharti Airtel was the biggest Sensex loser, which closed down 6.60 percent at Rs.274.40. The telecom major posted a decline of 37 percent in net profit earlier during the day.
The other main Sensex losers were Gail India, down 2.87 percent at Rs.366.55; ICICI Bank, down 1.62 percent at Rs.958; TCS, down 1.11 percent at Rs.1,250.50; and Larsen and Toubro, down 0.73 percent at Rs.1,406.85.
The major Sensex gainers were Mahindra & Mahindra, up 3.92 percent at Rs.722.75; Hindalco, up 2.23 percent at Rs.121.40; Sterlite Inds, up 1.29 percent at Rs.105.65; Hindustan Unilever, up 1.20 percent at Rs.475.95; and Infosys, up 1.16 percent at Rs.2,281.90.
Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed up 0.88 percent while Shanghai's composite index closed 0.16 percent higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed down 0.04 percent.
At closing bell here, European markets were in red. France's CAC was down 0.50 percent. Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE 100 were down 0.58 percent and 0.56 percent respectively.