Moderate selling was seen in metal, realty, energy, pharma and IT stocks.
In overseas markets, European stocks were trading mixed, as global markets gear up for Friday's US jobs report.
The non-farm payrolls report will be eagerly watched by the US Federal Reserve and could determine whether the central bank increases interest rates in September.
Asian stocks also settled mixed.
The 50-share Nifty opened lower at 8,754.05 and hovered between 8,819.20 and 8,754.05, before finishing at 8,786.20, showing a gain of 41.85 points or 0.48 per cent.
On the sectoral front, Private Bank rose by 1.45 per cent, followed by Bank (1.29 per cent), Financial Service (1.32 per cent), Media (1.28 per cent), Infra (0.76 per cent), FMCG (0.44 per cent) and Auto (0.34 per cent).
However, Metal dropped 1.47 per cent, Realty 1.25 per cent, Energy 1.02 per cent, Pharma 0.61 per cent and IT 0.36 per cent.
Notable index gainers were UltraTech Cement (3.52 per cent), Kotak Bank (2.64 per cent), L&T (2.53 per cent), IndusInd Bank (2.25 per cent), Zee (1.95 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (1.94 per cent) and HDFC Bank (1.76 per cent).
A total of 855 scrips declined, 757 advanced, while 68 remained unchanged. Total securities that hit their price bands stood at 125.
Turnover in cash segment rose by Rs 37,944.36 crore from Rs 19,707.12 crore as on Tuesday.
A total of 14,872.44 lakh shares changed hands in 108,11,456 trades. The market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs 1,09,10,696.32 crore.
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