The Sensex was trading higher by 45 points, while the Nifty gained 13 points in early trade. Among the early Nifty losers in trade were Larsen and Toubro, Kotak Mahindra, Jindal Steel, NMDC and TCS.

Maruti which jumped sharply by 7 per cent in trade on Friday, following a weaker Yen dropped in trade today following profit booking.

Among the early Nifty gainers in trade were Tata Motors, Power Grid, HCL Tech, State Bank of India and Sesa Goa.

Idea Cellular was down after reports that the Department of Telecom (DoT) had asked the company to stop 3G services outside their licensed zones within three days, and slapped fine a fine on the company.

Coal India was steady despite reports that workers at the company have threatened to go on an indefinite strike if the government goes ahead with its plan to sell more equity in the company.

Steel Authority of India was higher after the company said it will soon ink an equal joint venture pact with sister firm, KIOCL to set up a three lakh tonne a year coke oven plant and a 25 MW power plant at an estimated investment of Rs 500 crore.

Shares in the high beta real estate sector were trading higher with shares of Anant Raj, DLF and Indiabulls gaining ground.

Heavyweight, ITC which dropped in trade on Friday continued to grind lower

PSU banking stocks saw some modest recovery after buying support emerged at lower levels. Stocks that gained from the sector were Indian Overseas Bank, IDBI Bank, Oriental Bank and Canara Bank.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia were trading mixed with the Hong Kong's Hang Sang and the Japanese Nikkei trading higher, while the Shanghai Composite and Singapore's Strait Times trading lower.

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