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The forex and money markets are closed today on account of 'Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti'.
The main losers on the Sensex at this hour include Bharti Airtel, GAIL, CIL, RIL and SBI whereas few gainers include Cipla, ONGC, HUL, BHEL and NTPC.
Among other shares, Hotel Leela Ventures has zoomed 10% at Rs 27 after the Board of Directors approves to sell the company's IT Park Building in Chennai.
Kingfisher Airlines was locked at upper circuit at Rs 10.53 in opening deals as UB Holdings seek to revamp support to the beleaguered Airlines.
Tata Group retail arm Trent has advanced 2% at Rs 1,170 after the board approves a proposal to buy private equity fund TVS Shriram Growth Fund's entire stake in Landmark Ltd, for Rs 84 crore.
The market breadth in BSE remains healthy with 1,117 shares advancing and 874 shares declining.
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(Updated at 0935 hrs)
Markets have opened on a flat with a negative bias note this morning. The Sensex is down 3 points at 19,499. Nifty is unchanged at 5,898.
The market will be reacting to the news on government cancelling Rs 12,000 crore bond auctions, lowering its market borrowing programme for the current financial year in its bid to contain the fiscal deficit at 5.3 per cent.
Overnight, the S&P 500 dipped in a late decline on Friday as Wal-Mart dropped following a report of a weak start to February sales, though the index just barely extended its streak of weekly gains to seven.
Equities were little changed for much of the session, with investors finding few reasons to make big bets following an extended rally on Wall Street, but stocks turned lower in afternoon action.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.08 percent, at 13,985. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.02 percent, at 1,522. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.21 percent at 3,192.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei share average edged down 0.3% at 11,374 as investors awaited the appointment of a new Bank of Japan governor and eyed risks in the euro zone. Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng slipped 0.3-1% each.
BSE Realty index continued Monday's good run and was up 0.7% at 2,093. Capital goods, power, auto and consumer durables indices also added 0.4-0.7% each. On the other hand, the oil & gas index is marginally down at 8,920.
BHEL is the top Sensex gainer this morning - up 1% at Rs 210. Cipla and Jindal Steel are up 1% each. HUL, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and NTPC are also in the green.
L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Limited has awarded the automatic fair collection system, the last contract of the Rs 16,000-crore metro rail project, to Samsung Data Systems India Private Limited, a subsidiary of Samsung SDS, Korea. The shares of L&T are up 0.5% at Rs 1474.
Telecomm major - Bharti Airtel is the top loser, down 1% at Rs 311 as the Department of Telecommunications is planning to hold a third round of auction of unsold spectrum under the 1800 MHz band in 18 circles immediately after the March auction.
TCS is down 0.5% even as India's largest information technology services provider, is set to expand operations in Britain.
BSE market breadth is marginally weak. Out of 1,376 stocks traded, 844 shares have advanced while 476 shares have declined.
