BENGALURU, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Indian shares were set for a sixth session in the red on Tuesday amid interest rate worries and geopolitical tensions, although a surge in private lender Axis Bank after better-than-expected results helped cut some early losses.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index was down 0.39% at 17,081.65 by 0440 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.48% to 57,212.83, after falling up to 1.9% earlier in the session.

The indexes have erased gains recorded so far this year and at the day's low were just over 2% shy of December's trough.

Tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine and a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting that could signal tighter monetary policy kept investors on edge and sent Asian peers and U.S. futures lower, after a chaotic Wall Street session overnight.

"We seem to be following Wall Street's trend overnight and staging a sharp recovery as investors start hunting for bargains, but we are not yet out of the woods," said Ajay Bodke, an independent market analyst, adding that the chaos on Wall Street indicated "deep investor anxieties" about interest rates and geopolitical tensions.

"A runaway rise in crude prices could also act as a severe headwind for India's ballooning current account deficit."

Oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company, slid 3% to an over one-month low. The stock has lost nearly 7% despite reporting strong results last week.

The Nifty IT index, the biggest casualty of the recent sell-off, pared some losses after sinking as much as 2.5% to its lowest since late November, and was last down 0.3%.

Meanwhile, Axis Bank rose as much as 4.8% after the private-sector lender beat estimates for quarterly profit.

SBI Cards and Payment Services jumped nearly 5% after quarterly profit nearly doubled.

Nifty components Maruti Suzuki and Cipla are due to report results on Tuesday. (Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)