Thirty three stocks on the 50-scrip Nifty index were trading in the negative zone The stock markets started Tuesday's session on a flat note, with the BSE Sensex see-sawing in a tight range.
National Stock Exchange (NSE) benchmark index Nifty traded in the range of 10,532-10,505 in early morning deals, trading nearly unchanged from its previous close.
While some weakness was witnessed in PSU bank and FMCG stocks, down around 0.4-0.7 per cent, mild gains in energy and capital goods kept the losses in check.Thirty three stocks on the 50-scrip Nifty index were trading in the negative zone.
Top laggards on the Nifty 50 included Grasim, Bharti Airtel, UltraTech Cement and Infratel, trading with losses of between 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent.SBI shares were down 0.9 per cent in early morning deals, ahead of January-March quarter earnings from the country's largest bank.While Japan's Nikkei 225 was trading flat, China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.4 per cent.
Markets in Hong Kong and South Korea were shut for holidays.Overnight on Wall Street, key indices climbed while US dollar rallied to a five-month peak.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.27 per cent, the SP 500 gained 0.79 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.56 per cent.On Monday, the BSE Sensex had closed 232 points lower at 34,616 while the NSE Nifty settled 79 points lower at 10,516.
That marked a lower closing for the indices for a fifth session in a row.