The key benchmark indices were flat in early trade amid mixed cues from global peers. The Sensex shed 70 points to trade at 14,939 levels and the Nifty lost 14 points at 4,423.

The markets lacked conviction at 16,000 levels. The markets rallied during the past 3 months due to a feel good factor and the fundamentals had not really caught up. 14,500-15,500 is a good range to enter the markets, said Raj Majumder, CEO, iMetanoia Financial Services.

Realty, FMCG and capital goods stocks were under pressure while pharma counters moved higher. The realty index on the BSE fell 1.2 per cent and the FMCG index shed 0.9 per cent. The BSE capital goods slipped 0.7 per cent.

Among the Sensex stocks, ACC was the biggest loser. The stock dropped 2 per cent. Hero Honda, HDFC and ITC fell over 1.3 per cent each.

However, M&M advanced 2.6 per cent and was the biggest gainer in the pack.

US stocks fell modestly on Monday in the absence of any major corporate or economic developments. Investors were cautious ahead of a two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve that starts Tuesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 32.12, or 0.3 percent, to 9,337.95. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.38, or 0.3 percent, to 1,007.10, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 8.01, or 0.4 percent, to 1,992.24.

Most Asian markets were trading with modest gains today.

Hong Kongs Hang Seng and Japans Nikkei rose over 0.3 per cent each. Chinas Shanghai Composite was also up over 0.2 per cent.