MUMBAI: The Sensex declined for the first day in three, as commodity producers dropped on lower metal prices and as most Asian markets including Japan retreated.

The benchmark index ended the day down 49points at 17,131.

Sterlite Industries (India), the nation's biggest copper producer, slid 2% as copper sank on speculation demand may lag behind supply as stockpiles continue to expand. Maruti Suzuki India led automakers higher on the expectation they will report higher sales this month.

The sell-off in oil & gas exploration, power, metal, FMCG, select capital goods and banking & financial companies' shares kept the markets lower.

However, buying in telecom, technology, auto and oil marketing companies' shares along with L&T, Cipla and Ambuja Cements capped the losses to some extent.

Heavyweight Reliance Industries slipped close to 1% on profit booking, after a sharp run-up on Monday. ITC also fell over 1.5%.

However, Bharti Airtel bounced back 2.6% as it saw buying interest at lower levels. It had tumbled over 4% yesterday. Infosys was up 1% as according to sources the company is in talks to acquire Europe based Ciber Novasoft and the deal value is likely to be between $200-300 million.

"Commodity stocks are following global cues," said A N Sridhar, a fund manager at Sahara Asset Management in Mumbai. "Since prices are down today we are seeing some weakness in stocks too."

Market Internals
Markets take breather after 2 day rally
Negative Asian markets lead to decline
Nifty loses 15 pts, Sensex down 49 pts
Nifty gyrates 60 pts, Sensex swings 200pts
Advance decline ratio at 1:1 with negative bias
Auto index outperforms, gains 1.5%
M&M, Maruti and Hero Honda lead to cheer in Auto pack
Consumer durables gains over 1%
FMCG index loses 1%, top laggard in trade
Metal, Oil & Gas indices edge lower
Smallcap gains 0.3%, Midcap added 0.2%
Broader markets outperform Sensex
Bharti, Infosys contribute 25 pts to Sensex
ITC, RIL and ICICI Bk drag Sensex by 55 pts