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Markets are trading in a tight range with Sensex and Nifty oscillating between negative and positive zone.
At 9:53AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 10 points at 29,449 and the 50-share Nifty was down 8 points at 8,948.
The main gainers on the Sensex are TCS, Wipro, RIL, Sun Pharma and HDFC.
On the losing side, Coal India has dipped 5% or by Rs 20.80 at Rs 373.90 on BSE in early morning trade after the stock turned ex-dividend for Rs 20.70 per share today. Other notable losers are M&M, Axis Bank, Tata Motors and ITC.
Technical chartists suggest that the though the markets could trend higher going ahead, investors should book profits on a rally.
"Due to the intraday volatility, Index has formed a ‘doji’ candle on daily chart. Considering this development and the ongoing momentum, we reiterate our view that the Nifty may extend this rally towards 9050 – 9150 levels, which is the resistance of the higher end of the ‘Megaphone’ pattern on the weekly chart," said a note from Angel Broking.
"Going forward, we would avoid trading aggressively long in the market and would advise traders to start booking profits on the rallies. On the flipside, the ‘Upward Sloping Trend Line’ level of 8730 has now become an important support on a closing basis. The near-term uptrend remains intact so long as this level is not violated," it adds.
Point out analysts from Anand Rathi in a morning note: "Nifty needs to hold the 8940 levels to move towards 9,000 and 9,050 levels. On the downside, there is immediate support at 8,940 levels and below that profit booking decline may be seen towards 8,880 levels."
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Updated at 9:20
Markets opened marginally lower amid profit taking in private banks after sharp gains recently while ITC continued to remain weak because of steep hike on cigarettes proposed in the Buget.
At 9:20AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 35 points at 29,424 and the 50-share Nifty was down 11 points at 8,946.
Annual growth in production of the eight key infrastructure industries declined to at least a year’s low of 1.8% in January compared to 3.7% in the same month last year.
This is likely to have a negative impact on the industrial growth numbers for the month, as these industries have a weight of 38 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
The US dollar hovered close to an 11-year high against a basket of currencies while Asian shares firmed in early trade on Tuesday, with sentiment bolstered by another record day on Wall Street.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was nearly flat, while Japan's Nikkei stock average was up about 0.4% after the yen pushed to three-week lows against the greenback.
On Wall Street on Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 both posted fresh record closing highs, while the Nasdaq Composite broke 5,000 for the first time in 15 years.
The dollar index climbed as far as 95.514 on Monday, surpassing Jan. 23's high of 95.481 to a peak not scaled since September 2003
ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and ITC were the top Sensex losers in early trades.
