On Tuesday the Sensex began lower by 40 points, while the Nifty lost 9 points in trade. Among the early losers was L&T, after the company acquired a 51 per cent stake in the general insurance business of Future Generali from Pantaloon Retail.

Heavyweight, Reliance Industries pulled the indices lower despite reports that the oil & gas major has spud its first exploration well in more than five years.

Indian IT major Tata Consultancy Services held steady after reports that Capgemini and TCS have been awarded contracts worth USD 43 million (about Rs 233 crore) each from Norway Post to operate and manage its applications.

Among the top Nifty gainers in trade were Ranbaxy Laboratories, Coal India, HCL Tech, ITC, HDFC, Cairn India and Grasim Industries.

Nifty stocks that added pressure to the index were GAIL, Reliance Industries, DLF, Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank and Ultratech Cement.

PSU Banking stocks which have been badly hit in the last few days following the fall in the markets continued to see selling pressure. Among the notable losers from the space were Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Allahabad Bank and Syndicate Bank.

Realty stocks also continued to grind lower with some stocks losing as much as 50 per cent in the past one month. Extending losses further were DB Realty, Anant Raj, Sobha Developers and HDIL.

FMCG stocks were in demand with Godrej Consumer, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Global Beverages amongst the gainers.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia were trading lower on renewed worries over the Cyprus deal. Indian markets are expected to see a truncated week with trading holidays for Wednesday and Friday on account of Holi and Good Friday.

GoodReturns.in