Indian equity benchmark indices ended lower for the third consecutive session on Thursday ahead of the Reserve Bank India (RBI) policy outcome tomorrow.

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At close, the Sensex was down 575.46 points or 0.97 percent at 59,034.95, and the Nifty was down 168.20 points or 0.94 percent at 17,639.50. About 1,678 shares have advanced, 1,644 shares declined, and 102 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank, Divis Labs, HUL, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and ICICI Bank were the top gainers while Adani Ports, Titan Company, HDFC, Power Grid Corp and ONGC were among the top Nifty losers.

Amid sectoral indices, the Nifty Oil and Gas, and Consumer Durable indices ended over 2 percent and 1.7 percent lower, respectively. On the upside, the Nifty Pharma index added 0.4 percent.

BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended in the red as well. Ruchi Soya, Bharat Electronics, YES Bank, NHPC, Shree Renuka Sugars, and BLS International Services were the outperforming stocks, soaring in the range of 4 percent to 20 percent.

The RBI is set to announce its first bi-monthly interest rate decision on Friday where investors will eye the central bank's revised growth and inflation forecast.

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