The BSE benchmark Sensex failed to maintain the 30,000-level and was trading flat due to fresh selling in healthcare, capital goods, metal and power stocks amid firm Asian cues.
However, realty, oil & gas and consumer durables stocks remained investors' favourite.
At 3.15 p.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 22.09 points or 0.07 per cent at 29,896.31 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 8.65 points or 0.09 per cent at 9,312.70.
Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index was the star-performer and was up 2.16 per cent, followed by consumer durables 1.31 per cent, oil & gas 1.02 per cent and infrastructure 0.71 per cent. On the other hand, healthcare index was down 0.81, capital goods 0.56 per cent, metal 0.56 per cent and power 0.55 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were HDFC (+3.09%), ONGC (+2.84%), Maruti (+2.7%), GAIL (+1.57%) and Hero MotoCorp (+1.38%), while the major losers were Lupin (-2.53%), Bharti Airtel (-1.93%), Sun Pharma (-1.88%), Reliance (-1.67%) and NTPC (-1.37%).
Foreign funds sold net shares worth Rs 1,150.45 crore last Friday, as per provisional figures issued by stock exchanges.
Early trade
The 30-share index rose 134.33 points or 0.44 per cent to 30,052.73. The gauge had lost 214.95 points in the previous two sessions.
The Nifty also advanced 37.75 points or 0.40 per cent to 9,341.85.
Asian shares
Asian shares advanced on Tuesday, helped by rising optimism on the technology industry and easing concerns over North Korea, while the dollar edged up to one-month high versus the yen.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1 per cent, with many of the region's markets reopening after a long holiday weekend. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.3 per cent.
Wall Street climbed on Monday, boosted by gains in Apple and other big tech stocks that more than offset weak economic data and pushed the Nasdaq Composite to another record high.
The S&P 500 gained 4.13 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 2,388.33 and the Nasdaq Composite added 44.00 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 6,091.60, a record closing high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 27.05 points or 0.13 per cent to 20,913.46, after notching its best weekly performance of 2017 last week.