Mumbai, Aug 4 (IANS): The benchmark indices fell marginally on Thursday after rising for six straight sessions, with Sensex falling 50 points and Nifty down by 6 points.

At close, Sensex ended down 51.73 points or 0.09 per cent at 58,298.80, while Nifty ended lower by 6.15 points or 0.04 per cent at 17,382.00. Both the indices were trading in green in the early trade due to gains in information technology stocks, but turned negative in the latter part of the day.

State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, among others, were the top losers on Sensex on Thursday.

"Markets witnessed erratic swings throughout the weekly expiry day and finally settled on a flat note. The beginning was upbeat, thanks to firm global cues. However, the updates on lingering geopolitical tension between China and Taiwan led to nervousness and triggered a sharp dip.

"The situation improved gradually as the day progressed, with noticeable traction in the IT, pharma, metal and FMCG pack. Finally, the Nifty index closed almost unchanged at 17,382 levels," said Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

Meanwhile, broader indices traded mixed wherein midcap gained over half a per cent while smallcap slipped into the red.

Going ahead, markets will be closely eyeing the outcome of RBI's monetary policy meet on Friday. Before that, the performance of the global indices amid fresh developments on China-Taiwan tension would dictate the trend in early trades.

"RBI's policy outcome on Friday would be the key event that the market would track. Going forward, it could be a tug of war between domestic and global factors, which would determine the market direction," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.