The benchmark indices the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty recovered from their early reverses to trade firm in the afternoon session on Wednesday. At 1.50 pm the BSE Sensex had recovered all its early losses to trade in the green at 32,621. This represented a gain of 12 points or 0.04 per cent on its overnight close. The NSE Nifty was trading at 10,228 points, down 5 points or 0.06 per cent lower on its previous close.

The top gainers on the BSE were Reliance (up 4.51 per cent), PowerGrid (3.61 per cent), ONGC (1.66 per cent), Wipro (1.5 per cent) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (1.4 per cent). The laggards on the exchange were Axis Bank (down 8.13 per cent), ICICI Bank (3.43 per cent), Cipla (2.5 per cent), SBI (2.43 per cent) and Lupin (1.15 per cent).

The energy, oil and gas, utilities and power indices were the top gainers in the afternoon session. Telecom, banking, finance, healthcare 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 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.

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