The Nifty was trading higher by 2 points, while the Sensex gained 16 points in early trade. Bank stocks were trading lower in anticipation that the Reserve Bank of India would announce a sharper then expected hike in repo rate by almost 50 basis points, following hawkish comments released on Monday.

Banking stocks that saw declined were Yes Bank, which dropped almost 1.5%, while other losers were Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and ICICI Bank.

Larsen and Toubro which has witnessed a sustained rally since its quarterly results lost ground and was trading lower. Heavyweight, ITC which lost 3 per cent on Monday, traded lower once again today.

Maruti was the star performer in trade with the stock jumping 4% following a good set of results posted by the company. Other notable gainers were ACC, Sun Pharma and Sesa Sterlite.

Mid Cap stocks also saw some selling pressure in trade with notable losers being Godrej, IGL, Voltas and Vijaya Bank.

Shares of Hindustan Unilever were trading steady following volatility in the stock post its numbers. Wockhardt continued to witness selling pressure today with the stock down more then 2%.

In the forex market the rupee was marginally lower by 12 paise at 61.64.

Meanwhile, markets across Asia were all trading lower ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meet.

GoodReturns.in