Mumbai, Jul 29 (IANS): The Indian equity market traded in the red during the early trade on Monday ahead of key corporate earning results of ITC, Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp and Axis Bank.

The performance of the sector heavy-weights will also be a cue for the investors to judge the intensity of the ongoing showdown in the economy.

At 9.54 a.m., the Sensex was trading 54.06 points lower at 37,828.73. It opened higher at 38,043.22 from its Friday's close of 37,882.79.

The broader Nifty traded 39.50 points lower at 11,244.80.

"Post the budget announcement, market participants looked completely dejected and it's clearly reflected in the price action thereafter," Sameet Chavan of Angel Broking said.

In his outlook for this week, Chavan said: "We expect stock specific action to continue and should ideally be avoiding aggressive positions. We reiterate that the ongoing decline is providing excellent opportunity to grab some of the marquee names that had seen gravity defying moves since a year and are finally undergoing some price correction."