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Benchmark indices continue to trade in a tight range with negative bias weighed down by oil and financials shares along with Asian markets leading the fall.
Meanwhile, investors turned cautious ahead of the start of the two-day US Federal Reserve policy meeting starting today.
By 10:25, the Sensex was lower by 42 points at 26,774 mark and the Nifty slipped by 13 points at 8,029 levels.
The broader markets continue to outperform the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have surged between 0.5-1%.
The market breadth in BSE remains firm with 1,091 shares advancing and 378 shares declining.
Further, the rupee is trading at 61.0425/0500 versus Monday's close of 61.13/14. Pares losses made on Monday, when the Indian unit saw its biggest daily fall in 1-1/2 months.
ASIAN MARKETS
Asian shares held near one-month lows on Tuesday as investors braced for a possible hawkish shift in the US Federal Reserve's policy stance as the Fed begins a two-day policy meeting later in the day.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was little changed near one-month low hit on Monday after seven consecutive days of falls. Japan's Nikkei stock average shed 0.3%, catching up after Tokyo markets were closed for a local holiday on Monday.
Speculation that the Fed could raise interests sooner and faster than previously expected have rattled many share markets around the global and supported the US dollar.
SECTORS & STOCKS
BSE Oil & Gas index has declined by almost 1% followed by counters like Auto, Banks, Capital Goods and Metal, all slipping marginally. However, BSE Healthcare and Realty indices have gained by over 1% each.
The main losers on the Sensex are ONGC, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, HDFC, Sesa Sterlite, GAIL, M&M and Coal India.
Tata Motors has dipped by over 1% in the early trades after global wholesales in August 2014, including Jaguar Land Rover, stood at 73,524 units showing a declination of 10% from the
corresponding month last year.
On the gaining side, Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma, Wipro, Hindalco and Bajaj Auto have gained between 1-2%.
The Jharkhand government has shut five bauxite mines of Hindalco Industries, flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group.
Among other shares, Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) is trading higher by 3% at Rs 846 on reports that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has cleared Kotak Mahindra Bank's proposed Rs 459 crore deal to acquire 15% stake in commodity bourse.
Credit Suisse has upgraded Colgate-Palmolive (India) to "outperform" from "underperform The stock has risen by nearly 2%.
