The Indian equities were trading marginally lower, paring early losses, in afternoon deals on Wednesday, tracking weak cues from Asian peers, as investor sentiment were dented by rising crude oil prices and weakening Rupees. Oil stocks were under pressure, with HPCL, BPCL, OIL, ONGC and GAIL India down between 2-6 per cent, after media report suggested that the government may cut excise duty on petrol or diesel or may ask oil companies to freeze prices as a temporary arrangement. Bucking the trend, broader market witnessed buying activity, with MidCap and SmlCap indices gaining as much as 0.25 per cent and 0.49 per cent, respectively.

At 12:15 hours, the 30-share benchmark index was trading at 34645.24, down by 6 points or by 0.02 per cent, and the NSE Nifty was at 10515.55, down by 21.15 points or by 0.2 per cent.

In the day’s trade so far, the BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 34668.47 and intraday low of 34520.65, while the NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 10533.55 and intraday low of 10480.75.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were Tata Steel Ltd. (Rs. 555.60,-3.74%), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. (Rs. 1967.45,-2.30%), Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 180.15,-2.25%), IndusInd Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1875.20,-1.83%), Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. (Rs. 375.55,-1.26%), among others.

On the flip side, State Bank of India (Rs. 268.00,+5.45%), Tata Motors Ltd. (Rs. 315.00,+2.36%), ICICI Bank Ltd. (Rs. 296.90,+2.12%), NTPC Ltd. (Rs. 167.45,+1.48%), Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (Rs. 1336.60,+1.26%), were among top gainers on BSE.

On the sectoral front, oil&gas and metal stocks emerged as top losers on BSE, falling as much as 2.37 per cent and 1.82 per cent, respectively.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was strong. On BSE out of total shares traded 2553, shares advanced were 1337, while 1070 shares declined, and 146 were unchanged.