(Reuters) -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% at 17,734.95 as of 0349 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.07% 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% each at close in Monday's one-hour "muhurat" trading session to mark the festival of Diwali.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors sold a net 1.54 billion Indian rupees ($18.61 million) worth of equities on Monday, while domestic investors bought net 801.2 million rupees 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. [MKTS/GLOB]
In domestic trading, Nifty's public sector bank and energy were among the top losers, falling 0.7% and 0.4%, respectively.
ICICI Bank extended gains to rise more than 1%. India's second-largest private-sector lender reported a 37% rise in quarterly net profit on Saturday, as loan growth inched up and provisions for bad loans fell.