The Sensex ended (provisional) at 17,271 - down 47 points. Nifty ended down 18 points at 5,231.
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(Updated at 1500 hrs)
Markets have come off their day highs in late trades on profit booking in bank and software shares.
At 3PM, the Sensex was up 25 points at 17,344 and the Nifty was up 5 points to 5,253 levels. The Sensex touched an intra-day high of 17,432 and the Nifty at 5,280.
The Asian markets ended higher. The Nikkei advanced 0.3% to 9,380, Hang Seng jumped 1% to 21,309 and the Shanghai was also trading higher by 1.8% at 2,438 levels.
Back home, Hindustan Unilever is the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, up 2% to Rs 425 after reporting a 21% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in net profit at Rs 687 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2012. Bharti Airtel is also trading higher by 2.4% after the company reported higher operating profit on a sequential basis.
Sensex losers include auto shares with Tata Motors down 4%, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto down nearly 2% each. L&T also dropped 0.7% to Rs 1,218.
Among other shares, Subex zoomed 10% at Rs 25.90 after the company informed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the restructuring proposal of its outstanding foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB) involving a combination of debt and equity.
Market breadth was neutral with 1,373 losers and 1,363 gainers on the BSE.
