The key benchmark indices were flat in volatile early trade on the back of mixed cues from Asian markets. The benchmark Sensex fell 15 points to 14,749 levels and the Nifty was at 4,368 levels, down 6 points. Buying interest was seen in realty and oil & gas stocks while IT and capital goods stocks were under pressure. The realty index on the BSE rose 1.6 percent and the BSE oil & gas index gained 0.5 per cent. The BSE IT index, however, shed 0.5 per cent and the BSE capital goods index fell 0.4 per cent.

Among the Sensex stocks, Sterlite Industries led gainers. The stock advanced 2.6 per cent in early trade today. ONGC, HDFC and DLF were the other main gainers in the group.

Sun Pharma, Tata Motors and HDFC, however, were the other losers in the pack, down more than 1per cent each.

Asian markets were trading mixed today. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Japan’s Nikkei were in the negative turf while South Korea’s Kospi and China’s Shanghai Composite were up over 0.3 per cent each.