The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex shed over 41 points in the opening trade on Tuesday, snapping the two-session winning streak as investors sold stocks to book profits at existing levels amid a mixed global trend.

The 30-share index, which gained nearly 130 points in the past two sessions, fell by 41.31 points, or 0.24 per cent to 17,061.29 points in the opening trade.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dipped by 17.75 points, or 0.34 per cent to 5,106.25 points.

Brokers said emergence of profit taking by funds as well as retailers and mixed trend on the other Asian bourses mainly dampened the trading sentiments.

They said a cautious approach adopted by major players, after the Sensex surged nearly 5 per cent in the past few sessions also cast its shadow on the sentiments.

Among auto stocks, Tata Motors fell sharply by 3.86 per cent at Rs 766 on fresh spell of selling after reports that the world's largest truck maker Daimler is understood to be selling off its residual stake in the company for over $ 400 million.

Stocks of the country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki also succumbed to profit taking and traded 0.23 per cent down at Rs 1,474. Other losers were Hero Honda (1.33 per cent to Rs 1,888), Sterlite Industries (0.28 per cent to Rs 810.25), Tata Steel (0.97 per cent to Rs 615.40) and DLF Ltd (1.09 per cent to Rs 313.70).

Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.3 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 0.30 per cent in early trade.