Mumbai, Breaking the 6-day rally, the Indian equity indices settled in the red on Thursday as traders took to profit booking.

The Asian market ended on a mixed note and the major European indices settled in the negative zone, which also weighed on the investor sentiments in India.

Rahul Sharma, Head of Research at Equity99 Advisors, said: "Snapping its six-session winning streak, as traders were seen booking profit in the banking and financial stocks ahead of weekly options expiry."

"However, select buying by fund houses continued in other index heavy stocks. Traders are expecting the markets to show a sharp recovery in the coming days," he said.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said that broad market indices like the BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap indices lost less, thereby outperforming the Sensex and Nifty. Market breadth was positive on the BSE and NSE.

Sectorally, the top gainers were the BSE Telecom, IT, Healthcare and Metal indices. The top losers were the BSE Bankex, Capital Goods, Realty and Consumer Durables indices.

On the technical front, Jasani said: "While the Nifty has taken a breather, the underlying trend remains up. The uptrend is likely to resume once the immediate highs of 10,124 are cleared. On the downside, crucial supportAto watch for any further weakness is at 9,944."

On Thursday, Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed at 10,029.10, lower by 32.45 points or 0.32 per cent from its previous close of 10,061.55 points.

The Sensex closed at 33,980.70, lower by 128.84 points or 0.38 per cent, from the previous close of 34,109.54.

It had opened at 34,072.50 and touched a high of 34,310.14 and a low of 33,711.24 points.