At 2:44PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 48 points at 20,176 and the 50-share Nifty was trading 20 points lower at 6,137.
In Asia the Nikkei rebounded from early losses to end marginally higher by 0.1% at 15,381 while Shanghai Composite was up 0.2%. The Hang Seng slipped 0.5% and the Straits Times was down 0.3%.
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The dollar edged higher, gold steadied and European shares remained near five-year highs on Tuesday as investors wait to see if the US Federal Reserve will give any signal on the future of its stimulus programme. Having hit a five-year high on Monday, European shares opened 0.3% lower as investors cashed in on some of the recent gains. The CAC-40 and DAX were marginally down while the FTSE-100 was up 0.2%.
IT Index was the top gainer while Auto index was the top loser among sectoral indices on the BSE. Other gainers include Capital Goods, Consumer Durables, Bankex, Oil and Gas and FMCG indices.
Auto stocks continued to remain the top losers in the Sensex. Tata Motors was down 2.6% while Maruti Suzuki and M&M were down 1-2% each. Other Sensex losers include, SBI, ITC and NTPC.
Sensex gainers was led by ICICI Bank, Infosys, TCS and Reliance Industries.
Coal India was up 2.1% after reporting a nearly 90-percent jump in standalone net profit at Rs 2,320.61 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31.
Among other shares, Adani Power has surged 15% to Rs 62.40, extending its around 11% rally in past two trading sessions after the company said its promoters have releases majority of pledge shares lying with lenders.
The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were marginally down.
Market breadth was weak with 1,271 losers and 950 gainers on the BSE.