Benchmark indices were trading flat during the afternoon on Tuesday.

The market opened on a positive note, amid mixed global cues. Indices soon slipped into the red, witnessing profit-booking across multiple counters. Indices managed to recover from intraday losses led by gains in heavyweight financials and were trading flat during the afternoon, dragged by auto, IT and FMCG stocks. 

At 1 pm, the BSE Sensex was trading at 61,290.04, down 18.87 points or 0.03 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 61,475.15 and a low of 60,948.04. The Nifty 50 was trading at 18,281.85, down 26.25 points or 0.14 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 18,350.95 and a low of 18,186.20.

Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, Titan and ICICI Bank were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while Eicher Motor, Maruti, Tech Mahindra, Ultratech Cement and Tata Consumer were the top laggards.

Analysts expect volatility to continue ahead of the Budget presentation.

Separately ,Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is going to address a press conference at 4:30 pm today.

Bank stocks shine

On the sectoral front, a majority of indices were in the red. While financials, barring PSU Bank and realty gained, auto, IT, FMCG and pharma dragged.

Nifty Bank and Nifty Private Bank were up 1.02 per cent and 0.96 per cent, respectively. Nifty Financials Services was up 0.65 per cent while Nifty Realty was up 0.55 per cent. 

Meanwhile Nifty PSU Bank was down 0.46 per cent. Nifty Auto, Nifty FMCG and Nifty IT were down 1.04 per cent, 0.70 per cent and 0.89 per cent, respectively. Nifty Pharma and nifty Healthcare Index were trading 0.28 per cent and 1.08 per cent lower, respectively. 

Midcaps, smallcaps under pressure

The broader market also witnessed profit-booking with broader indices in the red.

The Nifty Midcap 50 was down 0.42 per cent while the Nifty Smallcap 50 was down 0.35 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was down 0.59 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was down 0.16 per cent.

The volatility index rose 2.08 per cent to 17.12.