The key benchmark indices remained flat amid range bound afternoon trade today. The Sensex fell 47 points to 17,175 levels and the Nifty shed 13 points to trade at 5,100 levels.

While IT and realty stocks advanced, auto and banking counters were under selling pressure.

Among the Sensex stocks, DLF was the biggest gainer. The stock rose 4.2 per cent. TCS, Infosys and Tata Power were the other major gainers in the pack. However, Tata Motors,  HDFC, SBI and Tata Steel were among the main losers in the pack. The stocks fell more than 1.5 per cent each.

Asian stock markets faltered on Wednesday as weak US housing starts tempered optimism about better-than-expected corporate earnings. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 31.38, or 0.1 percent, at 22,353.58 and South Korea's Kospi retreated 0.5 percent to 1,651.95.