The BSE Sensex was stuck in negative territory during the morning session on Wednesday. At 10.26 am the benchmark index was trading at 32,488 points, down 120 points or 0.37 per cent.

The NSE Nifty, which opened the day at 10,195, was trading at 10,192 points, down 42 points or 0.41 per cent lower on its previous close.

The top gainers on the BSE were Reliance (up 1.78 per cent), ONGC (1.61 per cent), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.33 per cent), Wipro (1.24 per cent) and PowerGrid (1.12 per cent). The laggards on the BSE were Axis Bank (down 6.64 per cent), ICICI Bank (3.58 per cent), SBI (1.99 per cent), Cipla (1.88 per cent) and and Bharti Airtel (1.09 per cent).

The energy, oil and gas, realty and power indices were the top gainers in mid-morning session. Telecom, banking, finance and technology indices were in the negative zone during the session.

Brokers said sentiment turned bearish on unabated foreign fund outflows and lower-than-expected Q2 earnings by some bluechip companies amid profit-booking in recent gainers.

Markets will conduct a special ‘Muhurat’ trading session tomorrow between 1830 hrs and 1930 hrs on the auspicious occasion of Diwali.

Private sector lender Axis Bank plunged 6.64 per cent after it reported a spike in the dud loan portfolio due to newer surprises, including under-reporting found by the Reserve Bank. The bank posted a 38 per cent rise in September quarter net profit at Rs 432 crore on low base effect.

Investors were cautious with today being the last session of Hindu Samvat Year 2073.

On Tuesday, the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed up by 3.6 points or 0.04 per cent at a record closing high of 10,234.45. The 30-share BSE index snapped a three-day rally to end down by 24.48 points or 0.08 per cent at 32,609.16.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.09 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.13 per cent in early trade today. Shanghai Composite gained 0.27 per cent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.18 per cent higher yesterday.