The Indian equity benchmarks were trading on a subdued note on Tuesday as gains in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance and Larsen & Toubro were offset with losses in HDFC Bank, HDFC and Infosys.
As of 12:44 pm, the Sensex was up 87 points at 57,254 and Nifty 50 index rose 46 points to 17,219.
Asian shares traded cautiously on Tuesday, with investors weighing China's measures to cushion an economic slowdown and the prospect of aggressive Federal Reserve monetary policy tightening.
Investors are also bracing for a barrage of earnings that will help them assess the impact of the Ukraine war and a spike in inflation on company financials. Netflix, Tesla and Johnson & Johnson are all to report this week, news agency Reuters reported.
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Overnight, stocks on Wall Street closed slightly lower after a wobbly day of trading as worries about interest rates and inflation keep a lid on Wall Street despite some better-than-expected profit reports.
The S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1 per cent. The benchmark index was coming off its second straight week of losses. Like it, the other two major U.S. stock indexes also rolled between small gains and losses Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq each fell 0.1 per cent.
Among S&P 500 companies, a slide in health care, industrial and other sectors narrowly edged out gains in technology, financial, energy and other stocks.
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Back home, all the 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange, barring the measure of IT shares, were trading higher led by the Nifty Oil & Gas index's 3 per cent gain. Nifty Metal, PSU Bank, Media and Auto indices also rose between 0.7-1.7 per cent.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.9 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.85 per cent.
Coal India was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 2.4 per cent to Rs 194. Eicher Motors, JSW Steel, Bharat Petroleum, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, Hindalco, Apollo Hospitals, Bajaj Auto and UPL also rose between 1.25-2.35 per cent.
On the flipside, HDFC, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, SBI Life, Britannia Industries, Cipla, Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies were among the losers.
The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 2,083 shares were advancing while 681 were declining on the BSE.
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