MUMBAI: Indian equities were witnessing profit booking Wednesday in line with other Asian peers. Gains in realty and power stocks were offset by losses in banks and metal stocks.

“World equity markets managed good bit of progress thanks largely to a sudden turnaround in the battered Chinese market. Risk tolerance improved with the dollar falling and the euro climbing. Crude oil is hovering near $72 a barrel mark while gold continued to slip.

However, the feel-good may just prove to be short-lived as most Asian markets are in the red this morning.

We expect another flat to slightly lower start for our markets. The overall mood will remain at the mercy of global cues. The Sensex and the Nifty may remain rangebound as investors await the first batch of quarterly results.

The Nifty is expected to remain in the range of 5210-5340 till there is a conclusive breakout on either side,” said IIFL report.

At 10:10 am, the National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 5259.60, down 29.45 points or 0.56 per cent. The index touched a low of 5256 and high of 5296.75 in early trade.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 17525.92, down 88.56 points or 0.50 per cent. The 30-share index hit intraday low of 17513.50 and high of 17623.66.

However, the mid cap and small cap stocks extended overnight gains. BSE Micap Index was up 0.19 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index gained 0.24 per cent.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Bankex slipped 0.69 per cent and BSE Metal Index declined 0.58 per cent. BSE Realty Index moved 0.60 per cent higher, BSE Power Index gained 0.02 per cent.

ICICI Bank (-1.49%), SAIL (-1.26%), Hindalco Industries (-1.25%), HDFC Bank (-1.12%) and Wipro (-1.12%) led the Nifty decline.

Reliance Communications (2.06%), Bharti Airtel (1.66%), Power Grid (1.32%), Suzlon Energy (1.21%) and Reliance Capital (0.69%) were the top gainers.

Market breadth was positive on the NSE with 1734 gainers against 1382 losers.

Meanwhile the Asian markets were in the red. Nikkei 225 was down 1.07 per cent, Hang Seng fell 1.26 per cent and Seoul Composite was down 0.94 per cent.