At close, the Sensex was down 2.56 points at 51934.88, and the Nifty was down 7.90 points or 0.05% at 15574.90 as investors preferred to book profits after seven straight sessions of gains. ONGC, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India (SBI), Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), HUL, Tech Mahindra stocks were the top gainers in the Sensex pack. On the flip side, ICICI Bank, UltraTech Cement, Asian Paints, ITC were among the top index laggards. About 1303 shares have advanced, 1782 shares declined, and 119 shares are unchanged. Barring the Nifty Media, Pharma, and IT indices, all other indices settled the day in the red. The Nifty Private Bank index was the top loser, down 1 percent, while the Nifty IT index gained 0.11 percent. The S&P BSE MidCap closed 0.01 percent higher while the SmallCap index slipped 0.3 percent.