JSW Steel was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares.

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indices took a breather and ended on a flat note after two sessions of stellar rally as investors booked profits. Profit booking in Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, HDFC, State Bank of India and Kotak Mahindra Bank led to some selling in banking and capital goods shares. However, buying in IT heavyweights like Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services helped the benchmarks to end little changed from their previous close. The Sensex and Nifty in past two sessions surged over 8 per cent.

The Sensex ended 7 points or 0.02 per cent higher at 39,097 and the NSE Nifty 50 index dipped 12 points or 0.10 per cent to close at 11,588.

Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty PSU Bank index's over 2 per cent decline.

Nifty Realty, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Bank, Nifty Metal and Nifty Private Bank indexes also dropped between 0.95-1.6 per cent each.

On the other hand, Nifty IT index was top sectoral gainer, up 1.98 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares ended on a mixed note as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.7 per cent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index ended on a flat note.

JSW Steel was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock fell 4.2 per cent to close at Rs 233.50. State Bank of India, Eicher Motors, Indian Oil, Axis Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Infratel, ONGC, Hero MotoCorp and Coal India also fell between 2.12 and 4 per cent each.

On the flipside, Infosys, Zee Entertainment, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was neutral as 955 shares closed lower while 813 closed higher on the NSE.