Banking stocks like ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Federal Bank and Bank of India were trading higher in early trade.

Maruti Suzuki was up in early trade after reports that the company had signed an an MoU with Muthoot Vehicle and Asset Finance to help customers avail 100 per cent finance for Maruti cars.

Bharti Airtel was trading marginally weak after reports that Bharti Enterprises has sold a majority stake in group company Beetel Teletech to US-based mobile handset distributor Brightstar Corporation.

Mid cap stocks continued to see buying interest in trade with notable winners being Unitech, Voltas and a host of PSU banking names like Syndicate Bank of India and Union Bank of India.

Among the Nifty losers in trade included names like HDFC and HDFC Bank along with NMDC.

IT stocks were trading flat with Infosys and TCS both showing marginal gains.

Meanwhile, markets across Asia were trading higher except the Singapore Strait Times and the Korean Kospi which were lower in trade.

GoodReturns.in