Indian bourses were trading on a flat note during early trade today.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which belled the day at 18,238.54, remained 27.08 points down to trade at 17,565.69.

On the other hand, the 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange stood at 5,453.8 after shedding 0.09%.

Broader market indices remained weak, with the BSE midcap index declined 0.53% and the BSE small cap index ruling 0.18% down.

On Friday (Feb 18), the equities markets lost previous gains to shut the week on a weak note.

The BSE Sensex closed at 18211 after recording a loss of 295 points whilst the Nifty ended the week at 5459, down 88 points.

The real estate sector remained under pressure and shed 4%.

Others sections that knocked down the indices comprised auto, which fell 2.4% and oil and gas, which dropped 2%.

Other losers list included Reliance Capital, which declined 6.9%, RCom slipped 6.7% and Suzlon rejected 5.8%.

The top gainers were HUL, which surged 2.2%, JSPL climbed up 1.6% and BHEL zoomed 1%.

On the worldwide front, crisis proceeded in the Middle East with growing stress between Iran and Israel on the utilization of the Suez Canal because of which crude remained above 100.