Markets opened the week steady, after witnessing sharp gains last week, following a slew of measures unleashed by the government. However, selling pressure due to profit taking saw the markets drift lower and trade in the red at 9.30 am IST.

The Sensex was down 57 points, at the Nifty was trading lower by 17 points at 5673 points. Among the early gainers in trade were Tata Power, Reliance Infrastructure, Bharat Heavy and Punjab National Bank.

Shares of BPCL were up more than 1% today, after reports that company will offer 51% stake to LG Chemical in its Rs 6000 crore Kochi plant.

Punjab Alkalies surged around 20% after reports that Punjab State Industrial Corp will divest its 44.26% stake in the company.

Shares of heavy weight Reliance Industries was subdued and trading lower by 0.40%, while TCS and Infosys were also trading in the red.

Markets are expected to continue to grind higher, though a lot of expectations have been built on the government pushing through the reform process. Any disappointment on the government's inability to push the reforms process could see the markets reacting once again, since they have run-up rather sharply.

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