Among the Nifty 50 shares, 26 advanced while 24 declined in early trading. The top gainers included Cipla, Divis Lab, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco, and Hindustan Unilever.
The S&P BSE Sensex breached the remarkable 76,000-mark for the first time, hitting 76,010, while the NSE Nifty50 scaled a new summit at 23,111 before retracting into negative territory.
Indian benchmark indices on Wednesday deviated from their three-day winning streak and concluded in negative territory amidst cautious sentiment of investors preceding the release of crucial US inflation data and the ongoing elections.
After a positive start on Tuesday, the Indian stock market encountered selling pressure, leading to both indices slipping into the negative territory by the time the closing bell rang.
The Sensex opened 521.65 points down, starting at 72878.13, while the Nifty opened 134.15 points down at 22138.35. Among the Nifty companies, 13 recorded advances while 37 faced declines in early trading.
The Sensex, India's key equity index, opened down by 131.51 points, or 0.18 per cent, at 73,883.04, while the Nifty, another major index, started the session lower by 23.25 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 22,438.75.
The stock market witnessed a bearish trend as it closed in the red on Tuesday, with both the benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, ending the day in negative territory.
The benchmark Sensex began the day on a low note, opening at 65,001.81, marking a decline of 499.52 points. Similarly, the Nifty also started in negative territory, opening at 19,393.00, recording a substantial drop of 135.75 points.
BSE 30-share Sensex went down 51 points to 61,722.74 and NSE Nifty 50 lost 2 points to 18,284.20 in the morning trade on Thursday. In sectoral indices, energy, IT and financial services were trading in the negative territory on Thursday morning.
The key indices of the domestic equity market ended in the negative territory, extending the loss for the third consecutive day, amid fresh selling. Some profit bookings were seen after the recent bull run.