Sensex trades flat, bank shares drag

The BSE Sensex was flat in trade after foreign investor sold cash shares and derivatives on Tuesday. The BSE Sensex was up 25 points while the Nifty gained 3 points at 2.44 pm.

Foreign funds were sellers of Rs 339 crore in Indian cash shares and Rs 780 crore in equity derivatives on Tuesday, exchange data shows.

Asian share markets nudged into the red on Wednesday following an uninspiring performance by Wall Street, while a dip in the dollar against the yen prompted profit-taking on Japanese stocks.

Bank shares fell on profit-taking. HDFC Bank Ltd was up 0.34 per cent, while State Bank of India fell nearly 1 per cent.

Among decliners, Wockhardt Ltd slumped 9 per cent after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration imposed an "import alert", effectively a ban, on a domestic plant operated by the Indian generic drug maker.

Caution is likely to prevail ahead of the expiry of November derivatives contracts on Thursday and GDP and fiscal deficit data due on Friday.