Mumbai, June 11 -- The benchmark indices erased early gains and ended lower on Thursday as investors turned cautious amid escalating US-Iran tensions, persistent foreign institutional investor (FII) selling and higher-than-expected US inflation data. Trading remained volatile due to the weekly expiry of Sensex futures and options contracts. After climbing to an intraday high of 23,327.45, the Nifty gave up its gains and settled below the 23,200 mark. IT, chemicals and consumer durables stocks led the decline, while pharma and private banking shares provided some support to the market.

The S&P BSE Sensex declined 150.63 points or 0.20% to 73,832.55. The Nifty 50 index lost 53.35 points or 0.23% to 23,161.60.

Infosys (down 2.25%), Bajaj F...