Mumbai, Oct 23 : The Indian stock market closed marginally low on Wednesday as selling was seen in auto, pharma and metal sectors.

The Sensex closed at 80,081.98 after falling 138.74 points or 0.17 per cent. At the same time, Nifty closed at 24,435.50 after falling 36.60 points or 0.15 per cent.

The Nifty Midcap 100 index closed at 56,533.55 after rising 359.50 points or 0.64 per cent at the end of trading. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed at 18,286.20 after rising 225.20 points or 1.25 per cent. Nifty Bank closed at 51,239.00 after falling 18.15 points or 0.04 per cent.

Selling was seen in the auto, pharma, metal, realty, energy, private bank, infra, and commodities sectors of Nifty. At the same time, buying was seen in IT, PSU bank, financial services, FMCG sector and media.

However, the market trend remained positive. On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 2189 shares were trading in the green and 1743 shares in the red. Nearly 99 shares closed without any change.

Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, HDFC Bank, Infosys, TCS, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Maruti were the top gainers in the Sensex pack. At the same time, M&M, Sun Pharma, Powergrid, L&T, NTPC, Axis Bank and Titan were the top losers.

Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, Tata Consumer, TCS, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech, Coal India and Infosys were the top gainers in the Nifty pack. Meanwhile, M&M, Sun Pharma, Eicher Motors, L&T, Shriram Finance and NTPC were the top losers.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 3,978 crore on Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 5,869 crore on the same day.

The rupee remained flat at nearly 84.07 as the dollar strengthened to 104.18 dollars.

'Crude prices showed slight weakness, but foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to sell in Indian markets, maintaining pressure on the rupee,' said market experts.

Nifty witnessed a volatile day of trade. It swung in both directions and ultimately closed in the negative down 37 points.

Nifty pulled back however it was sold indicating inability to hold at higher levels. Daily as well as hourly momentum indicators have a negative crossover which is a sell signal, said experts.

/IANS