New Delhi, May 10 (IANS): Indian equity benchmarks traded steady in early deals on Tuesday after a sharp slump the previous day.

Rupee too took a breather as it has appreciated from its all-time low of 77.42 the previous day to 77.25 this morning.

Rupee has been under-pressure after global central banks started normalising policy and last week RBI too raised key interest rates.

At 10.27 a.m., Sensex was 0.02 per cent down at 54,456 points, whereas Nifty was 7 points up at 16,309 points.

"The mother market US has turned distinctly weak with Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow at 1-year lows. European markets are moving in tandem with the US markets. Relatively India is doing better thanks to the consistent buying by DIIs and retail investors," said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Retail investors should not rush in to buy aggressively now since the market is not at buyable valuations, Vijayakumar added.

"High quality stocks like leading financials may be bought in small quantities. Rupee depreciation, which may continue, will impart resilience to IT stocks."