Markets pare opening losses in early trade, Nifty above 11,400

New Delhi: Markets opened in the negative zone on Tuesday amid lack of directional cues from global markets, however it pared losses in early trade.

The 30-share BSE index opened on a choppy note and was trading 250.13 points or 0.65 per cent higher at 38,667.36 while the NSE Nifty edged up by 56.60 points or 0.50 per cent to 11,411.65.

Major gainers in the Sensex pack were Infosys, M&M, RIL, Bajaj Finance, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserve, Axis Bank, Maruti and Asian Paint, rising upto 2.09 percent. On the other hand, major losers were ONGC, Kotak Bank, Powergrid, Bharti Airtel, Nestle, Bajaj Auto, ITC, Titan, NTPC, Tata Steel, Sun Pharma and HDFC, falling upto 0.93 percent.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.14 per cent lower at USD 41.95 per barrel.

Among Asian peers, Japan`s Nikkei advanced 0.4%. China`s blue-chip index tacked on 0.2% while Hong Kong`s Hang Seng gained 0.6%, a Reuters report said.

Elsewhere, Australian shares rose for a second straight session, up 0.8%. MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.37%, Reuters added.

In the previous session, Sensex settled 60.05 points or 0.16 per cent higher at 38,417.23, while Nifty advanced 21.20 points or 0.19 per cent to close at 11,355.05.

Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 6.93 crore on a net basis on Monday.