Markets opened the day lower on weak global cues with banking stocks once again witnessing selling pressure. Sharp lower closings in the US, pushed most of the Asian indices lower.

The Sensex was trading lower by 103 points, while the Nifty lost 32 points in early trade. Among the Nifty stocks that lost ground were the banking names including ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank and Yes Bank.

Stocks from the Nifty that gained ground were ONGC, Sun Pharma and NTPC.

Software stocks continued to exhibit a resilient trend with TCS, Infosys and HCL Tech trading marginally higher. Tata Motors dropped almost 2 per cent in trade, after the company reported a sharp decline in sales volume for the month of Dec.

Hero Motor Corp was trading marginally higher despite a drop in its sales volume for the month of December.

Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation rallied after reports that the company found oil in the KG DWN 98/2 field it bought from Cairn India in 2005.

Real estate stocks gained in trade despite weakish trade sentiments with notable gainers from the space being Godrej and Sobha Developers.

Among the gainers from the mid cap space were Jubilant Foodworks, Hexaware and Havells India.

Meanwhile, markets across Asia were trading sharply lower led by losses in the Hong Kong's Hang Sang and the Chinese Shanghai Composite.

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