The Indian equity benchmarks snapped their two-day winning streak on Wednesday dragged by losses in banking and financial services shares such as Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

For most part of the day, Sensex and Nifty traded in a narrow range but late selling pressure in the gauge of banking shares wiped out entire intraday gains, analysts said.

The Sensex fell as much as 474 points from day's highest level and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 18,201 after hitting high of 18,342.The Sensex fell 207 points to close at 61,143 and Nifty 50 index declined 57 points to close at 18,211."Market witnessed a small correction after a failed attempt to hold the higher levels in the Nifty 50 Index above 18,300.

Our research suggests that 18,200 will be an important support level for the market.

If the market is able to sustain the level of 18,200, we can witness a positive momentum in the market which can lead to the higher levels near 18,600," Vijay Dhanotiya, lead technical research at CapitalVia Global Research.Eight of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Media index's 2.4 per cent fall.

Nifty Metal, Private Bank, Bank and Financial Services indices also fell between 1-1.6 per cent.On the other hand, PSU Bank, information technology, healthcare and pharma shares witnessed buying interest.Mid- and small-cap shares ended flat as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices ended little changed.Axis Bank was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 6.5 per cent to close at Rs 787.35 after it reported September quarter earnings.

Bajaj Finance, ONGC, Tata Motors, Hindalco, IndusInd Bank, Hindustan Unilever, JSW Steel, NTPC, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel and Kotak Mahindra Bank also fell between 1.4-5 per cent.On the flipside, Asian Paints, UPL, Divi's Labs, SBI Life, Cipla, Infosys, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma and State Bank of India were among the gainers.The overall market breadth was positive as 1,780 shares ended higher while 1,466 closed lower on the BSE.