Domestic shares fell on Tuesday, with the BSE index marking its lowest close in more than a month, as investors were unwilling to make any risky bets amid weak corporate earnings and ahead of the central bank's policy review next week.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended lower by 102.15 points or 0.37 per cent at 27,459.23 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended down by 24 points or 0.29 per cent at 8,337.

Top five Sensex gainers were BHEL (+2.24%), NTPC (+1.98%), Hindalco (+1.1%), HDFC Bank (+1.1%) and Axis Bank (+0.94%), while the major losers were Dr Reddy's (-2.85%), Hero MotoCorp (-2.84%), HDFC (-2.30%), ICICI Bank (-2.11%) and Tata Motors (-1.89%).

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index fell the most by 2.72 per cent, followed by healthcare 0.87 per cent, metal 0.73 per cent and auto 0.69 per cent. On the other hand, capital goods index was up 0.52 per cent, followed by banking and power 0.43 per cent each.

Domestic stocks seesawed on Tuesday, struggling to snap a three-day losing streak, with investors unwilling to make any risky bets and the markets firmly focussing on corporate earnings.

Gains in financial and industrial stocks slightly edged out losses in consumer discretionary and telecommunications stocks.

"Quarterly results are the ones that will give direction to the market. China and Europe would be in focus as parliament is not functioning," UR Bhat, managing director at Dalton Capital in Mumbai said.

Maruti Suzuki was up 0.5 per cent after reporting quarterly profit that increased 56 per cent but was slightly below bullish analysts' estimates.

Shares of Punjab National Bank spiked 4.95 per cent as the bank's bad loan ratio fell marginally in the three months to June.

Union Bank of India also gained 1.95 per cent after reporting a smaller-than-expected fall in quarterly profit.

Meanwhile, Bank of India's shares slumped 5.68 per cent after its net profit tumbled.

Large caps HDFC Bank gained 1.1 per cent, Reliance rose about 0.41 per cent while Glenmark Pharmaceuticals was down 4.21 per cent after a US court ruled that the drugmaker's generic Finacea, infringed Bayer AG's patent.

Global markets

European shares bounced in early trade on Tuesday after falling in the previous five sessions, with some strong company results and mergers and acquisitions news supporting the market.

RSA Insurance Group surged 12.9 per cent after Zurich Insurance said it was weighing up a bid for the British group with a market capitalization of £4.4 billion ($6.85 billion).

Asian stocks fell to three-week lows on Tuesday as a deepening rout in Chinese stocks erased risk appetite - sending investors flocking to safe-haven instruments such as government bonds and the Japanese yen.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.8 per cent in early deals, its lowest level since July 9 as mainland Chinese indexes opened 2-5 per cent lower.

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