Reliance Industries was trading marginally higher at Rs 809 after reports that the oil ministry is poised to approve its investment plans for the KG-D6 block.

Sterlite Industries was down after the Vedanta group said it would likely close its one million tonnes alumina refinery at Odisha's Lanjigarh from Wednesday.

Among the early gainers from the Nifty stocks were Ambuja Cements, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints and
Jindal Steel.

The losers from the index stocks included UltraTech Cement, Infosys, Hindalco, HeroMotorCorp, Bharti Airtel and Asian Paints.

Shares of Jet Airways surged once again after reports of stake sale by the promoters to Etihad Airways. Banking stocks were subdued in trade today with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank all trading flat.

Software stocks lost momentum with TCS and Wipro declining in early trade.

Meanwhile, shares in Asia were trading lower after weak data from the US. Markets are expected to remain volatile ahead of voting for FDI in parliament to be held later today.

GoodReturns.in