NEW DELHI: Most power stocks lay low during afternoon trade on Thursday.

The BSE Power index was lost 0.70 per cent at 2,198 around 01:50 pm, with Siemens (down 8.68 per cent) as the top loser.

Reliance Infrastructure (down 3.95 per cent), Reliance Power (2.76 per cent), ABB India (2.65 per cent), PTC India (2.58 per cent) and Adani Power (2.19 per cent) all fell by a big margin.

Meanwhile, Adani Transmission (up 1.08 per cent), Torrent Power (0.97 per cent), NTPC (0.97 per cent), Power Grid Corporation of India (0.37 per cent) and CG Power and Industrial Solutions (0.31 per cent) held up around that time.

Stock benchmarks kept their losses to a minimum after buying in ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel and Axis Bank.

The NSE Nifty50 index was down 24 points at 10,694 while the BSE Sensex dropped 26 points to 35,151.

On the Sensex index, 14 stocks advanced compared with 17 that fell.

Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Wipro were leading the pack of losers on the Sensex index.