Indian shares struggled for direction in a largely muted early trade on Tuesday, as investors assessed weakness in Asia, while weighing prospects of slower pace of U.S. Fed rate hikes ahead.

The blue-chip Nifty 50 index was up 0.02 per cent at 17,734.95, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.07 per cent to 59,871.49.

The market will be closed on Wednesday for a holiday.

The benchmark indexes had started a truncated week higher on Monday, to register gains for seven straight sessions.

The indexes had climbed 0.88 per cent each at close in Monday's one-hour "muhurat" trading session to mark the festival of Diwali.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors sold a net $154 crore ($18.61 million) worth of equities on Monday, while domestic investors bought net ₹80.12 crore worth of shares, as per provisional data available with the National Stock Exchange.

In broader Asia, equities fell to new 2-1/2 year lows on Tuesday, as weakness in Chinese shares outweighed early gains following a rally on Wall Street on hopes of a less aggressive Federal Reserve.

In domestic trading, Nifty's public sector bank and energy were among the top losers, falling 0.7 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.

ICICI Bank extended gains to rise more than 1 per cent. India's second-largest private-sector lender reported a 37 per cent rise in quarterly net profit on Saturday, as loan growth inched up and provisions for bad loans fell.

Published on October 25, 2022