Indian benchmark equity indices, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty 50, opened higher on Tuesday amid mixed Asian cues and buying in auto, FMCG and IT counters.

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The indexes, however, soon edged lower and turned flat with maximum pressure seen in private bank stocks and index heavyweight Reliance Industries.

After opening at 38,360, the Sensex was trading at 38,347.94, higher by just 69 points, or 0.18 percent. The Nifty started at 11,576, but edged lower to 11,575.90, up by just 24.15 points, or 0.21 percent.

Bajaj Auto, ITC, Asian Paints, Tata Motors shares surged in early trade, while Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Infosys, TCS shares were under pressure.

Midcaps also were under pressure and Nifty Bank slipped into the red, down by 0.13 percent. Except IT, FMCG, Fin Service and Auto indices, all other NSE sectoral indices were in the red. Eight out of 19 sectoral indices on the BSE were trading positive but with muted gains.

Earlier, the Indian rupee opened stronger at 69.65 against the dollar on Tuesday from its Monday's close of 69.82/$.

Asian shares trade higher with Japan's Nikkei higher by 0.40 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also gaining by over half a percent.

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First Published:Aug 21, 2018 10:12 AM IST