The key benchmark indices continued to trade flat in the afternoon deals today. The Sensex was up 8 points at 17,059 levels and the Nifty rose 7 points to trade at 5,069.
Gains in IT and metal stocks were offset by losses in capital goods and oil & gas counters.
Among the Sensex stocks, Tata Motors was the biggest gainer. The stock rose 2.6 per cent. Wipro, Infosys and ONGC were the other major gainers in the pack, up over 1 per cent each. However, Reliance Infra, L&T and ICICI Bank were among the main losers in the pack.
Asian stocks were mixed Wednesday amid investor caution following the recent advance in the region's markets.
Japanese and Hong Kong markets fell while South Korea and Shanghai shares rose. Oil prices extended their climb and gold hit another record high, while the dollar slipped against the yen and the euro.
The sideways trade followed an erratic session on Wall Street and a string of gains in Asia as the weakening dollar increased investor appetite for stocks and commodities like gold and oil.