Markets continued to trade lower, amid weak Asian cues, with Chinese shares witnessing a sell-off raising concerns about the stability of China's economy.
At 9:35AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 14 points at 27,818 and the 50-share Nifty was down 8 points at 8,459.
In the broader market the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up 0.2% each. Market breadth was positive with 845 gainers and 603 losers in early trade.
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Meanwhile, the rupee continued to trade weak against the US dollar. The rupee was trading lower by 5 paise at 65.36 compared to its previous close on Monday.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 255 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
BSE Healthcare, IT and Realty indices were the top gainers while Metal, Power, Auto and FMCG indices were the top losers.
Export-led stocks in the IT and pharma space gained on expectations that the weakening rupee would help boost revenues during the second quarter. Sun Pharma, Lupin, Cipla and Dr Reddy's Labs were up 1-1.8% each.
Among IT stocks, Infosys, TCS and Wipro were up 0.4-0.6% each.
Metal shares were down tracking amid concerns of weak demand from China. Vedanta, Tata Steel and Hindalco were down 1-1.3% each.
FMCG shares witnessed profit taking amid concerns that weak monsoon would hurt rural volume growth. ITC and HUL were down 0.7-1.4% each.
Other Sensex losers include, HDFC, HDFC Bank and Tata Motors among other