Key indices slipped into the red in the morning deals with the Sensex down 46 points at 19,645 and the Nifty slipped 18 points at 5,970.
In the broader markets, the midcap index slipped in line with the Sensex, down 0.2% each while the smallcap index was down 0.1%.
Along with Health Care and Auto, FMCG index advanced into the green. Meanwhile, Capital Goods, Consumer Durables and Metal continued to languish, down 1% each.
Shares of telecom services provider are trading higher in the range of 1-2% in otherwise subdued market in morning trades after the Empowered Group of Ministers on telecom on Monday decided to slash the reserve price for CDMA spectrum by 30%-50%.
Among the individual stocks Idea Cellular is trading higher by 2.5% at Rs 112, its highest level since June 2008 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Tata Teleservices rallied almost 5% to Rs 13.19, followed by Reliance Communications up 2.6% at Rs 84 and Bharti Airtel up 1% at Rs 330.
Bank of Maharashtra is trading higher by 3% at Rs 65.90 after the public sector bank announced fund raising plans up to Rs 200 crore through issue of equity shares.
Marico is trading higher by over 3% at Rs 235 after the board of directors of personal products maker has approved a proposal to restructure company’s businesses and corporate entities with effect from April 1, 2013 to unlock value.
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(Updated at 0930 hrs)
Markets started on a flat on the back of weak global cues with the Sensex up two points at 19,693 and the Nifty slipped four points to start at 5,982.
In the international markets, US stocks lost ground on Monday, as investors drew back from recent gains that lifted the S&P 500 to a five-year high, in anticipation of sluggish growth in corporate profits.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.38% to 13,384. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell or 0.31% to 1,462. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.09% to 3,099.
Asian shares steadied on Tuesday but prices were capped by investor caution ahead of corporate earnings season for the last quarter of 2012 and the European Central Bank's policy meeting later in the week.
Jakarta Composite was the only index in the green, up 0.4%. Among the major laggards were Nikkei, Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite, KOSPI Composite and Taiwan Weighted dipped 0.4% each.
Back home, in the broader markets, the midcap index started flat with a negative bias while the smallcap index was mildly in the green, up 0.06%.
Among the sectoral indices, Health care and auto indices were the only ones to start in the green, up 0.2-0.5%. The ones mainly in the red were Capital Goods, Metal, Consumer Durables, Power, Oil & Gas, IT and Bankex indices down 0.2-0.7%.
The top Sensex gainers in the opening trades were pharma names like Sun Pharma, Cipla and Dr Reddys Lab up 1% each. Tata Motors, HDFC, TCS, Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC, HDFC Bank and Maruti Suzuki up 0.10.7% were the other notable gainers.
Among the ones weighing on the Sensex were ONGC, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Hindustan Unilever and L&T down 1% each. Sterlite, GAIL, BHEL, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Jindal Steel, Bharti Airtel and Wipro down 0.5-0.8% were the other significant losers
The market breadth was positive. 718 stocks advanced while 491 stocks declined on the BSE.
