BENGALURU: Indian shares ended lower for a sixth straight session on Wednesday, with automobile and financial stocks falling the most ahead of the expiry of monthly derivatives contracts.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.17% to 17,063.25 at close, and the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.12% at 57,232.06.

Both the indexes spent most of the day in positive territory, rising up to 0.8% each, as investors shook off jitters around a recent escalation in the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

For the month so far, the Nifty and Sensex have fallen more than 1%, dragged by geopolitical tensions, inflation concerns, foreign fund outflows and expected rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Foreign investors have sold a net $7.02 billion worth of Indian equities so far this year, according to Refinitiv data.