The Indian equity benchmark indices snapped a two-day winning run to close marginally lower Wednesday. The 30-scrip Sensex closed at 57,806, as it declined 90 points and the Nifty50 index declined 20 points to end at 17,213. The broader markets outperformed the benchmarks as both mid-caps and small-caps rose 0.2 and 0.5 percent higher, respectively.

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Among sectoral gauges, a strong rally was pharma and healthcare. Nifty Metal, Media, PSU Bank were under selling pressure, declining nearly 1 percent. Other bank and financial stocks also ended in the red.

Among the 50 stocks on Nifty, Eicher Motors, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, Divi's Lab, and IndusInd Bank lead the gains, as each scrip rose over 2 to 3.45 percent. Leading the losses were ITC, SBI, Coal India, Tech Mahindra, and Grasim.

Globally, a Christmas rally in European shares paused near five-week highs Wednesday as investors exercised caution as the end of the year neared and Omicron coronavirus cases surge.

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Following a weak session in Asian stock markets, European stock markets opened flat to a touch higher with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index up 0.2 percent.

But Wall Street futures were pointing to a bounceback and oil prices edged higher as optimism refused to be beaten down by concerns around the impact of Omicron on global economies. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 50 countries, was down slightly on the day.

Earlier, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.3 percent, after six sessions of gains. There were losses in Hong Kong, down nearly 1 percent and hurt by declines in mainland tech stocks, while Chinese blue chips shed 1.5 percent.

Gold was slightly lower with the spot price at $1,803.93 per ounce.

With inputs from Reuters

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(Edited by : Yashi Gupta)