Indian stock markets started Tuesday's session on a cautious note, with the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index Sensex falling 120 points to 33,335.53 and the NSE Nifty shedding 44 points to trade below 10,300. Losses were led by selling witnessed in banking, power, FMCG and infra stocks, down between 0.6 per cent and 0.9 per cent in morning deals. Among the top losers on the Nifty 50 were oil marketing companies HPCL, IOCL and BPCL, auto maker Eicher Motors and cement maker Ambuja Cements - down between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent.
Unwinding of positions in blue-chip stocks by participants ahead of index of industrial production (IIP) data and retail inflation dragged stocks down. IIP and retail inflation, based on Consumer Price Index, are slated to be released after market hours on the same day.
However, some buying seen in Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Vedanta, ONGC, GAIL India and Hindalco Industries - trading up between 1.2 per cent and 4 per cent - curbed the downside on the 50-scrip index.
Shares in the other Asian markets showed a mixed trend. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.55 per cent while China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.57 per cent in early trade. Japan's Nikkei, however, was slightly up 0.02 per cent. On Wall Street overnight, the US Dow Jones industrial average ended 0.23 per cent higher.
The Federal Reserve was due to kick off its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday. The US central bank is expected to lift rates by 0.25 per cent. The European Central Bank meets on Thursday.
At 10:06 am, the BSE Sensex was trading 80.59 points, or 0.24 per cent, lower at 33,375.20 while the NSE Nifty was down 34.60 points, or 0.33 per cent, at 10,287.65. 35 stock in the 50-scrip Nifty were trading in the negative zone.
(With agency inputs)
