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After some initial weakness, the markets gained in the opening deals on account of strength in financials along with individual scrips like ITC, ONGC and Tata Power.
At 0935 hrs, the Sensex was up 144 points at 18,501 and the Nifty gained 43 points at 5,611.
The broader markets too displayed some strength with both the midcap and the smallcap indices gaining 0.2% each as compared to the 0.7% gain on the Sensex.
Overnight, US stocks posted their worst day since November 7 on Monday as big declines in the price of gold, oil and other commodities fed a broad selloff in equities.
Weaker-than-expected data from China sparked the initial decline, but selling accelerated late in the session as reports of two explosions in Boston near the finish line of the Boston Marathon unnerved investors.
The Dow Jones industrial average sank 1.79%, to close at 14,599.. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 2.30%, to 1,552. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 2.38%, to end at 3,216.
In Asia, the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.3%, falling 0.9% on Monday. Its materials sector was again the worst performer by far, slipping 1.7%.
Japan's Nikkei average fell 1.3%, weighed by the yen's rebound and weakness in Wall Street.
Among the sectoral indices, Oil & Gas, Power, PSU, Realty and Bankex started with some strength, gaining 0.6-1%. Health care and Capital Goods too were in the green, up 0.1-0.2%.
However, Consumer Durables, IT, Teck, Auto, Metal and FMCG were in the negative, slipping 0.1-1%.
The top gainer among the Sensex-30 was Tata Power which gained over 3% after the apex power sector regulator on Monday passed a landmark order extending relief in the form of a “compensatory tariff” to Tata Power for sale of electricity from its 4,000-Megawatt (Mw) Mundra ultra mega power project in Gujarat.
ONGC, Hero MotoCorp, SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Cipla, L&T, Dr Reddys Lab and HDFC Bank up 0.6-1.3% were the other notable gainers.
On the losing side were IT majors like Infosys and TCS down nearly 1% each.
Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto down 1.2% and 0.2% respectively were the losers from the auto space.
Among metal names, Sterlite, Hindalco and Jindal Steel started with a red tick, down 0.2-1.2%.
Index heavyweight, Reliance Industries slipped 0.1% in the opening trades, ahead of its Q4 numbers which is expected today.
The market breadth was positive on the BSE. 482 stocks advanced while 378 stocks declined.
