The Indian benchmark indices witnessed a sluggish start on Monday tracking weak global cues and uncertainty ahead of the inflation data and announcement of some big-ticket earnings of the season. Asian stock markets too opened lower as growth concerns ahead of the third-quarter corporate earnings season weighed over the sentiments of investors, lifting the demand for US dollar as safe haven and curbing the demand for risky assets.

At 9:25AM BSE SENSEX was at 18637.1 down by 38.08 points or by 0.2 % while NSE Nifty was at 5674.25 down by 1.8 points or by 0.03 %. The BSE MIDCAP was at 6700.39 up by 23.54 points or by 0.35 %, while the BSE SMLCAP was at 7150.63 up by 40.9 points or by 0.58 %.

September inflation data set to be released today also kept investors on cautious mode. A media poll forecasted inflation to come at around 7.73 per cent as against 7.55 per cent in August, citing the diesel price hike on September 13 to hit the prices. Any significant surge in inflation could hamper the RBI’s ability to cut rates during upcoming policy review meeting. Interest rate sensitive stocks like Auto, Banking were down ahead of the inflation data.

Meanwhile, Index heavyweight Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will report its earnings today. Experts were expecting the company to post an over 20 per cent growth in profits sequentially. The stock was up marginally at Rs 821.35 on BSE.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 1187, shares advanced were 737 while 370 shares declined and 80 were unchanged. Bharti Airtel was down nearly 1 per cent amid media reports that it has been planning a major restructuring and may merge its Indian and African operations by mid-2013.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were Tata Motors Ltd. (Rs. 267.10,1.28%), Coal India Ltd. (Rs. 356.30,0.86%), NTPC Ltd. (Rs. 167.25,0.86%), Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. (Rs. 102.20,0.63%), Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (Rs. 243.80,0.63%), among others.

In BSE, BSE Auto index was at 10234.56 down by 39.97 points or by 0.39%. Tata Motors Ltd. (Rs. 267.10,1.28%), Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (Rs. 1769.45,0.56%), Bajaj Auto Ltd. (Rs. 1738.85,0.27%), Ashok Leyland Ltd. (Rs. 23.80,0.21%).

In BSE, BSE_Bankex index was at 13046.5 down by 40.42 points or by 0.31%. Punjab National Bank (Rs. 815.65,0.67%), HDFC Bank Ltd. (Rs. 627.00,0.54%), ICICI Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1039.90,0.52%), Federal Bank Ltd. (Rs. 480.70,0.40%), State Bank of India (Rs. 2242.00,0.38%).