Indian markets had a lacklustre trading session on Wednesday on the back of weak investor sentiment coupled with lower-than-expected results from FMCG major Hindustan Unilever.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended up 45.04 points (0.23 per cent) at 20,026.61 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended up 5.8 points (0.1 per cent) at 6,054.30.

Volume toppers were Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, SBI and RIL. Top five Sensex gainers were Bharti Airtel, Tata Power, ITC, Hero MotoCorp and HDFC, while the top five losers were HUL, Tata Motors, Hindalco, GAIL and Bajaj Auto.

Barring TECk, banking and capital goods sector stocks, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the red.

Among them, realty index was down 2.34 per cent, followed by PSU 1.00 per cent and consumer durables 0.94 per cent. On the other hand, TECk index was up 0.64 per cent, followed by banking 0.43 per cent and capital goods 0.1 per cent.

The Nifty and the Sensex opened marginally in the green and circumspect even as the third quarter earnings have just started to gather steam.

The Nifty opened at 6,053, up four points, while the Sensex opened at 19,997, up 15 points.

Marketmen said that the US economy was recovering slowly and this augured well for the global economy.

“The initial signs of IT budgets for CY2013 seem to be healthy and better on the back of slow recovery in the US and demand for BPO services,” said Rajesh Agarwal, Head-Research Eastern Financiers.

European stocks were unchanged before the US House of Representatives votes to suspend the country’s borrowing limit. US index futures were also little changed, while Asian shares fell.

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives said they aim to pass on Wednesday a nearly four-month extension of the US debt limit to May 19.

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