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Markets continued to remain range-bound in late noon trades on Wednesday as gains in rate sensitive shares failed to offset losses in IT and index heavyweights.
At 2:40PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 51 points at 24,808 and 50-share Nifty was down 14 points at 7,402.
The rupee has rebounded from its early lows and is trading higher at 59.32 versus its previous close of 59.38. Earlier, the rupee was trading tad lower, tracking mixed Asian currencies, with traders eyeing domestic equities on foreign fund flows.
Asian markets were trading lower with the exception of Nikkei, which touched 2-month closing highs on Tuesday as investors remained cautious ahead of the ECB meet tomorrow. Japan's Nikkei stock average ended up 0.2% at 15,068. Shanghai was down 0.7%, Hang Seng lost 0.6% and Straits Times was down 0.5%.
European markets were also trading lower in early deals ahead of the European Central Bank's meet tomorrrow. CAC, DAX and FTSE were down 0.2-0.5% each.
Among the rate sensitives, Realty was the top gainer, up 1.2%, followed by Capital Goods and Auto, up 0.9% each. The IT index was the top loser, down 1.5%, along with Oil and Gas index which eased 1%.
In the banking space, ICICI Bank and SBI were up over 1% each, while L&T gained 1% contributing the most to the Sensex gains.
The other gainers in benchmark index include Hero MotoCorp, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank and Hindalco among others.
IT majors weakened amid an appreciating rupee as most of their earnings come from exports to the US. Infosys was down 1.2%, TCS lost 2% and Wipro was down 0.9%.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was also down 1% after the company late Tuesday said a minor fire broke out at its poly butadiene rubber plant in Vadodara.
In the broader markets, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up over 1.3% each.
Market breadth was positive, with 2,010 gainers and 962 losers on the BSE.
