The Sensex was trading lower by 40 points, while the Nifty shed 14 points in early trade. Reliance Industries was trading marginally higher ahead of its results.

Coal India declined marginally after the UK-based hedge fund The Children's Investment (TCI) Fund Management on Friday filed a law suit in the Calcutta High Court against directors of state-run Coal India for "breach of their fiduciary duties" and for "failing to perform their functions with adequate care and skill".

DB Realty closed at the upper end of the circuit filter on reports that Rakesh Jhunjunwala had picked a stake in the company.

Among the top Nifty losers were Tata Motors, NTPC, Hero Motor Corp, HDFC bank and ITC. Among the gainers from the Nifty were Ambuja Cements, ACC, Grasim and Jaiprakash Associates.

Banking stocks were subdued ahead of the inflation data with ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and a host of public sector banks trading lower.

Tata Steel was trading higher after the company said it will start work on the proposed plant in Karnataka only after getting the allocation of an iron ore mine that has at least 300 million tonnes of reserve.

Markets are expected to be range bound and are likely to move in tandem with quarterly results announced by individual companies.

GoodReturns.in