MUMBAI: Indian stock markets are expected to be choppy on Tuesday while trends in SGX Nifty indicated a weak opening for Indian benchmark indices. 

On Monday, the Nifty had closed at 17,945.95, up 50.75 points or 0.28%, after scaling the 18,000-mark for the first time. The Sensex closed at 60,135.78, up 76.72 points or 0.13%.

Asian shares dropped and the safe-haven dollar held firm on Tuesday, as a global energy crunch fuelled inflation fears, clouding investor sentiment before the US corporate earnings season.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.9% in early trade, after US stocks ended the previous session with mild losses. US stock futures, the S&P 500 e-minis, fell 0.43%.

Australian shares slipped 0.29% while Japan's Nikkei stock index slid 1.03%, while the Hong Kong's Hang Seng index opened down 1.35%.

Some of China Evergrande Group's offshore bondholders have not received interest payment by a Monday deadline. Rivals Modern Land and Sinic became the latest developers scrambling to delay bond payment deadlines.

Evergrande's debt troubles and contagion worries have sent shockwaves across global markets in recent months and the firm has already missed payments on dollar bonds, worth a combined $131 million, that were due on 23 September and 29 September.

Back home, India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki witnessed a massive 51% drop in production last month due to shortage of semiconductor chips. In a regulatory filing, the auto major reported total production of 81,278 units in September compared with 1,66,086 units a year ago.

Tata Motors on Monday reported a 24% increase in group global wholesales, including that of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), to 2,51,689 units in September quarter of FY22 over the year-ago period. Global wholesales of all Tata Motors' commercial vehicles and Tata Daewoo range in Q2FY22 were at 89,055 units, up 57 per cent over Q2FY21, Tata Motors said in a statement.

In an open letter to Zee shareholders, Invesco Developing Markets Fund questioned the rationale for Sony agreeing to pay 2 percent aditional equity as a non-compete fee to promoter Subhash Chandra’s family when his son, managing director Punit Goenka, will continue to run the merged entity for five years from the completion of the acquisition.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have moved telecom tribunal to challenge Telecom Department's demand notices for payment of Rs3,050 crore cumulative penalties in the points of interconnect matter, according to a report by Press Trust of India.

Meanwhile, Wall Street's main indexes ended a choppy session lower on Monday as investors grew nervous ahead of third-quarter earnings reporting season. A rally in basic material and energy shares on higher oil prices initially lifted major US stock indices.

After US data last week showed weaker jobs growth than expected in September, the focus now shifts to inflation and retail sales numbers this week. Investors also expect the Federal Reserve to begin tightening policy by announcing a tapering of its massive bond-buying next month.

The prospect of accelerating inflation and tighter monetary policy lifted bond yields. The yield on benchmark 10-year yield touched 1.6136 percent after a strong rise on Monday. The two-year yield rose to 0.3517%, up from its U.S. close of 0.318%.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies of other major trading partners, was up at 94.423.

Gold, usually seen as a hedge against inflation, was slightly lower. Spot gold traded at $1753.55 per ounce.

Oil prices, which had jumped on Monday on rebounding demand and cutbacks in supply, dropped slightly with US crude down 0.36% to $80.23 a barrel. Brent crude fell to $83.39 per barrel.