Sensex, Nifty Fluctuate; ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank Gain, Reliance, Infosys Decline

The Indian equity benchmarks were flip-flopping in gains and losses on Wednesday as gains in ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv and UltraTech Cement were offset with losses in Infosys, Reliance Industries, HCL Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services. Meanwhile, Asian markets were also trading with a negative bias providing negative cues to domestic markets. Asian stocks slipped on Wednesday following a mixed Wall Street session as higher U.S. Treasury yields weighed on global tech firms and pushed the dollar to a five-year high against Japan's yen. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.8 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei was little changed.

U.S. stock futures also slipped with S&P 500 e-minis down 0.25 per cent and Nasdaq e-minis losing 0.4 per cent, news agency Reuters reported.

As of 9:40 am, the Sensex was down 169 points or 0.28 per cent at 59,687 and Nifty 50 index fell 49 points to 17,755.

Buying was visible across most of the sectors as eleven of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Bank index's nearly 1 per cent gain. NIfty Financial Services, Auto, Metal, Private Bank and PSU Bank indices also rose between 0.5-0.9 per cent.

On the other hand, information technology, pharma and healthcare shares were witnessing selling pressure.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a mixed note as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.2 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index was trading on a flat note.

Bajaj Finance was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 2.5 per cent to Rs 7,526. Indian Oil, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank, UltraTech Cement, HDFC Bank, Britannia Industries, Axis Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Shree Cements and Nestle India also rose between 0.45-1.6 per cenyt.

On the flipside, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Tata Motors, Tata Consumer Products, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, NTPC, Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharma were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,423 shares were advancing while 1,422 were declining on the BSE.