Indian stock markets recouped some of the initial losses to end flat on Monday following weaker American markets last week after the Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates steady at record lows sparked worries about global growth.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended 25.93 points, or 0.1%, lower at 26,192.98, while the broader NSE Nifty slipped 4.80 points or 0.06% to close at 7,977.10.

Market observers pointed out that weak global cues emanating out of the Asian markets impacted investor sentiments.

"The negative closing comes despite the fact that there was good buying in the banking and other financial services stocks. This happened due to the announcements about more operational autonomy which would be provided to the public sector banks," Anand James, co-head, technical research desk with Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, told IANS.

"Due to the absence of any other major domestic trigger, the markets were solely focused on the international trends. The subdued Asian markets and the lower closing of the US markets on Friday impacted investors' sentiments here."

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei dropped by 1.96 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell by 0.75 percent. However, Shanghai Composite Index closed higher by 1.91 percent.

Other market watchers elaborated that the global growth concerns coupled with fears of a possible US interest rate hike in the latter part of 2015 played negatively on investors' sentiments.

"The uncertainty related to the US Fed rate hike continues to worry investors coupled with growth concerns," Vaibhav Agrawal, vice president, research, Angel Broking, told IANS.

"We expect the pressure to continue ahead of the F&O (futures and options) expiry this week."

Gaurav Jain, director with Hem Securities, explained that the markets were able to close flat after paring initial losses due to increase in foreign funds' inflows.

"After opening in negative terrain on account of global cues, indices recovered from the day's lows fuelled by renewed buying interest by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs)," Jain said.

"Hopes of a rate cut by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) kept the sentiment up on the street."

- With IANS inputs