Among the index stocks that lost maximum ground in early trade were Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, Axis Bank, Sterlite Industries and Tata Motors.

Shares of Reliance Infrastructure was down more than 1.5 per cent, following the collapse of a staircase of an under-construction Metro railway station in Mumbai, being built by the company.

Stock of Kingfisher Airlines was down by 2.50 per cent, after reports that the airline had more losses than actually reported.

Shares of Oil Marketing Companies were trading marginally higher following reports that the government would consider hiking the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG after the monsoon session of parliament. Shares of Hindustan petroleum, Bharat petroleum and Indian Oil were all trading higher by more than one per cent.

Among the gainers from the index stocks included ITC and HUL.

Meanwhile, shares in Asia were trading weak with Hong Kong's Hang Sang, Japanese Nikkei, Singapore's Strait Times and the Chinese Shanghai Composite all trading lower.

GoodReturns.in