Thirteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE ended lower led.

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes came off record high levels tested in yesterday's session ahead of Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy decision due on Thursday. Meanwhile, weakness in equities globally also weighed on investor sentiment domestically. Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and Asian Paints led declines in today's session. Investors booked profit at record high levels ahead of the RBI policy meet decision on Thursday, analysts said.

The Sensex fell 0.46 per cent or 184 points to close at 40,084 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index dropped 0.55 per cent or 67 points to shut shop at 12,022.

Thirteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE ended lower led by the S&P BSE Information Technology Index's 1.6 per cent decline. Oil & Gas, Healthcare, Energy, Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services and Basic Material Indexes also declined between 0.6 and 1 per cent each.

On the flipside, S&P BSE Capital Goods Index was top gainer, up 0.35 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares witnessed selling pressure as S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap indexes declined 0.2 per cent each.

Zee Entertainment was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 3.7 per cent to Rs 346.25. Hero MotoCorp, Asian Painta, Dr. Reddy's Labs, Bharat Petroleum, HCL Technologies, Indian Oil, TCS and UltraTech Cement were also among the losers.

On the other hand, Yes Bank, Bharti Infratel, NTPC, Axis Bank, Coal India, Vedanta, Wipro and Maruti Suzuki were among the gainers.

Indian equity and debt markets will remain closed on Wednesday for a holiday.