The key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday began early morning trade flat tracking mixed global cues.
At 9.35 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 210 points to 59,534. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 was trading at 17,489, down 65 points.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, Titan, HDFC twins were trading in the red. On the flip side, TCS, HCL Tech, Tata Steel, M&M, UltraCemco, L&T emerged early winners.
Among individual stocks, shares of Tata Steel gained marginally after the company acquired more shares of Neelachal Ispat Nigam for Rs 300 crore.
In the broader markets, Nifty SmallCap 100 index outperformed Nifty MidCap 100 index.
Sectorwise, Nifty Metal indices were off to a decent start, whereas Nifty IT index was the worst hit as it declined over 1 per cent.
In the previous session on Wednesday, the Sensex closed at 59,745, down 928 points (1.53 per cent). On the other hand, NSE Nifty50 ended at 17,554, down 272 points (1.53 per cent).
Meanwhile, the rupee gained 11 paise to 82.77 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday as the American currency retreated from its elevated levels.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 82.78 against the dollar and marginally rose to 82.77, registering a rise of 11 paise over its previous close. On Wednesday, the rupee closed at 82.88 against the US currency.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.23 per cent to 104.34.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 0.48 per cent to $80.99 per barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 579.82 crore, according to exchange data.