Sensex, Nifty Trade On A Flat Note; Banking Shares Outperform

Eight of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty PSU Bank index's over 0.5 per cent gains.

The Indian equity benchmarks were trading on a flat note on Wednesday as gains in Bharti Airtel, HDFC, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, ITC and IndusInd Bank were offset with losses in Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Axis Bank and HCL Technologies. Meanwhile, Asian shares hovered just off six-week highs on Wednesday, as a more risk-averse mood spread into the market from the United States overnight due to worries about slowing growth that hurt equities while helping the dollar firm. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.13 per cent having posted gains, if sometimes small, for 11 of the last 12 sessions. As of 9:24 am, the Sensex was up 25 points at 58,305 and Nifty 50 index rose 10 points to 17,372. Overnight, US shares were mixed and global equities retreated from record highs on Tuesday as investors balanced mounting worries over the slowing pace of economic recovery and hopes the Federal Reserve will delay tapering its bond purchases.