At close, the Sensex was down 8.03 points or 0.02% at 53018.94, and the Nifty was down 18.80 points or 0.12% at 15780.30, amid weakness in US stock futures and European markets. Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Tech, M&M, and HDFC were among the top index draggers. On the flip side, Axis Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries Ltd, and L&T were among the top BSE Sensex gainers. About 1336 shares have advanced, 1857 shares declined, and 138 shares are unchanged. The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices shed 0.5 and 0.7 percent, respectively. Sectorally, Nifty Banks and financials were the sole outperformers, ending around 0.5 percent up. On the flip side, metals led losses closing 2 percent down. Other top drags were auto, IT, realty, and PSBs, which cracked a percent each.