Key benchmarks wiped off intraday gains and were hovering near flat line in afternoon trade. At 13:19 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was almost flat at 37,291.67. The Nifty 50 index was down 2.70 points or 0.02% at 11,276.20.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 961 shares rose and 1533 shares fell. A total of 153 shares were unchanged.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.52%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.94%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

Coal India (up 2.4%), ONGC (up 2.19%), Tata Steel (up 2%), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.85%), Asian Paints 1.16%), Bajaj Auto (up 1.12%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.11%), were the major Sensex gainers.

Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.19%), IndusInd Bank (down 1.01%), HDFC Bank (down 0.88%), Reliance Industries (down 0.83%), Yes Bank (down 0.82%) and HDFC (down 0.7%), were the major Sensex losers.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was up 0.58%. The company announced that Almirall has received the European Commission (EC) approval for Ilumetri (tildrakizumab) for the treatment of adults with moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis who are candidates for systemic therapy. As indicated by Almirall, roll out of Ilumetri in Europe will start in the next few weeks. In July 2016, Sun Pharma out-licensed tildrakizumab to Almirall, for the development and commercialization of the product for psoriasis in Europe. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 18 September 2018.

ICICI Bank was up 0.42%. The bank clarified after market hours yesterday, 18 September 2018, that it has not filed any application for settlement but only a response to the show-cause notice has been submitted to Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The clarification was issued after Sebi chairman reportedly stated that ICICI Bank filed a consent petition with Sebi.

Overseas, Asian stocks rose across the board on Wednesday as expectations that Beijing would implement stimulus to soften the economic blow from the Sino-US trade war helped Chinese shares rally.

China announced tariffs targeting more than 5,000 US products, worth about $60 billion, will go into effect on 24 September 2018. However, China will put a 10% tariff on some goods it had previously earmarked for a 20% levy. At the same time, China's commerce ministry said that it filed a complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the US.

Beijing's announcement came after the Trump administration said the US will impose 10% tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, and those duties will rise to 25% at the end of the year.

US stocks came off earlier highs but still closed higher on Tuesday as investors shrugged off escalating trade tensions to instead focus on the robust economy.