Lupin (up 1.5 per cent), Axis Bank (up 1.4 per cent), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 1.2 per cent), Adani Ports (up 1.4 per cent), and Tata Steel (up 0.90 per cent), were the major Sensex gainers.

Maruti Suzuki (down 1.5 per cent), HDFC (down 1.5 per cent), ITC (down 0.95 per cent) and Wipro (down 0.6 per cent) were the major Sensex losers.

At the MCX, Gold futures for April 2016 contract closed at Rs 28,888 per 10 gram, down by 0.04 per cent after opening at Rs 28,953, against the previous closing price of Rs 28,899. It touched the intra-day low of Rs 28,731.