At 14:23 hours IST, the Sensex was trading marginally lower amid volatility on the back of selling in oil & gas, realty, cement, select pharma, banking, technology and auto stocks. Weak European cues also weighed on the markets.
However, buying in telecom, metal and select capital goods stocks along with NTPC, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Maruti, HDFC, Hero Honda, HUL and Power Grid capped the gains to large extent.
The Nifty was trading at 5,213, down 13 points and the Sensex was at 17,464, down 21 points. The Nifty January future was trading with 8 points discount.
The broader indices were flat; about 1127 shares advanced while 1818 shares declined on the BSE. Nearly 169 shares were unchanged.
ONGC, Reliance Industries, Wipro, DLF, Sterlite, HDFC Bank, SBI and ITC were the negative contributors.
Hindustan Copper, Jai Corp, Havells India, Rashtriya Chemical, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and HDFC were the most active shares on the bourses.
Top percentage gainers - Jai Corp, Hind Rectifiers and Fresenius Kabi were locked at 20% upper circuit each. Vikas WSP, Action Financial, Cera Sanitary and Redington were up 17-19.9%.
In the midcap space, Havells India shot up 16.59%. Coromandel International and KGN Industries gained 5% each. However, MindTree, HMT, Polaris, Praj Industries and Chambal Fertiliser lost 4-7%.
In the smallcap space, Electrotherm, Mount Everest and Visa Steel were up 15% each. However, JK Lakshmi Cement, ABG Infralogistic, Zenith Infotech, Richa Industries and OCL Iron declined 5% each.