Mumbai, March 10 Snapping six consecutive sessions\' rally, key Indian equity market indices ended in red as investors booked profits.

A benchmark index for Indian equities, the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 24,815.70 points, closed at 24,623.34 points -- down 170.62 points, or 0.69 percent over the previous day\'s close at 24,793.96 points. It touched a high of 24,817.48 points and a low of 24,471.39 points in the day\'s trade.

The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also closed 45.65 points or 0.61 percent lower at 7,486.15 pointâ€œ.

\"After a six-day rally, the markets today closed lower ahead of the ECB meeting. The European markets were flat as the investors\' focuses were on the ECB meet. The US index futures were in positive,\" Alex Mathews, head - research, Geojit BNP Paribas, said.

\"Foreign Institutional Investors\' continued interest in equities ensured that falls were limited, despite the volatility that also saw profit booking early in the day. However, more stocks were seen declining in NSE, when compared to the those advanced. Domestic institutions have been sellers on consecutive days lately,\" said Anand James, co head technical research desk, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

The 100-scrip and 200-scrip indices were lower by 0.62 percent and 0.58 percent, respectively. The mid-cap index was lower by 0.32 percent and small-cap stocks were lower by 0.18 percent.

In Thursday\'s trade, selling pressure was seen in capital goods, energy, IT and oil and gas sectors.

Sector-wise, the S&P BSE capital goods index dropped by 1.70 percent, energy index fell by 1.56 percent, IT index slipped by 1.33 percent and oil and gas index went down by 1.05 percent.

The major Sensex gainers on Thursday were: HDFC, up 1.91 percent at Rs.1,152.60; Asian Paints, up 1.84 percent at Rs.893.15; Maruti, up 1.39 percent at Rs.3,627.15; and Bharti Airtel, up 1.10 percent at Rs.338.80.

The losers were: BHEL, down 3.07 percent at Rs.104.35; Reliance Industries, down 2.87 percent at Rs.1,012; Infosys, down 2.76 percent at Rs.1,145.95; and GAIL, down 2.50 percent at Rs.341.35.

Among the Asian markets, Japan\'s Nikkei was higher by 1.26 percent, while Hong Kong\'s Hang Seng receded by 0.06 percent and China\'s Shanghai Composite Index ended lower by 2.03 percent.

In Europe, London\'s FTSE 100 was lower by 0.47 percent, France\'s CAC 40 was down by 0.06 percent while Germany\'s DAX Index was up by 0.03 percent at the closing in the Indian markets.

Key Indian equity indices snap six-day rally on profit booking