The benchmark indices failed to hold on the morning gains on Tuesday and ended lower for the third straight session amid volatility led by mixed sectoral performance.

Sensex opened at 78,981.97 against its previous close of 78,759.40 and jumped over a per cent to the level of 79,852.08 during the session.

Nifty 50 opened at 24,189.85 against its previous close of 24,055.60 and climbed over a per cent to reclaim the level of 24,382.60.

Sensex ended the day at a loss of 166 points, or 0.21%, at 78,593.07 while the Nifty 50 closed at 23,992.55, down 63 points, or 0.26%.

On Nifty50, the top gainers were Britannia (2.81%), JSW Steel (2.35%) and Tech Mahindra (1.74%).

While on the flip side, shares of HDFC Life (4.28%), SBI Life (2.43%) and BPCL (1.84%) ended as the top losers.

The midcap and smallcap indices underperformed the benchmarks as the BSE Midcap index fell 0.71%, while the Smallcap index ended 0.57% lower.

The overall market capitalisation of the firms listed on the BSE slipped to nearly ₹440 lakh crore from nearly ₹442 lakh crore in the previous session.

Among the sectors, auto, bank and oil & gas were down 0.5% each, while IT, metal, realty up 0.3-0.8%.

Nifty Auto was one of the worst-hit sectors for a second session in a row. M&M and Maruti Suzuki dented the sentiment the most.

Nifty Realty, although paring most gains, ended the session in the green rising 1%. Other sectors that prevented a steeper drop were Nifty IT and Nifty Metal.

Shares of Schneider Electric Infrastructure rose over 5% after the company posted a 23% YoY rise in its revenue.

Hindustan Construction Company shares fell over 6% after the company reported a net loss of Rs 2.5 crore in Q1 FY25.

Shares of Graphite India rose nearly 3% after the company reported a net profit of Rs 237 crore in Q1 FY25.

The focus is now on the RBI monetary policy decision. The meeting of MPC is underway, and its outcome is due on August 8.

Experts believe the central bank will maintain a status quo on repo rates. However, a few believe that there could be a shift in the policy stance of the RBI.