 "Nifty below 5,400 in opening deals")
After a brief tick in the green, the markets slipped into the red in the opening trades on the back of selling in heavyweights like ITC, Infosys, ICICI Bank and SBI.
At 0917 hrs, the Sensex was down 40 points at 18,272 and the Nifty slipped 14 points to trade at 5,394.
There was some buying in the broader markets, with both the midcap and the smallcap up 0.4-0.55, as compared to the 0.3% loss on the BSE benchmark index.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.2%, moving away from a six-week low touched on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei stock average gained over 2%.
Back home, among the sectoral indices, Consumer Durables, Auto, Capital Goods and Metal indices were the only pockets of strength, up 0.2-2%.
On the other hand, Health Care, FMCG, PSU, Power, Bankex, Teck, Realty and Oil & Gas indices gave off 0.1-0.7%.
The top gainers among the Sensex-30 were Tata Motors, Jindal Steel, BHEL, L&T, TCS, Tata Steel and Hindalco up 1-3.6%.
Reliance Industries too saw an uptick of 0.9%.
The top losers in the morning deals were pharma majors Dr Reddys Lab, Sun Pharma and Cipla down 1-2%.
FMCG majors ITC and HUL lost 1.5% and 0.7% respectively.
Gail India, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto, Infosys, HDFC, NTPC and Maruti Suzuki down 0.6-1.3% were the other notable losers.
The market breadth was positive. 547 stocks advanced while 243 stocks declined on the BSE.
At 0917 hrs, the Sensex was down 40 points at 18,272 and the Nifty slipped 14 points to trade at 5,394.
There was some buying in the broader markets, with both the midcap and the smallcap up 0.4-0.55, as compared to the 0.3% loss on the BSE benchmark index.
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Meanwhile, Asian shares rose in early trading on Friday after economic data suggested the global economy is expanding, which took the edge off persistent fears of the U.S. Federal Reserve's likely withdrawal of stimulus.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.2%, moving away from a six-week low touched on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei stock average gained over 2%.
Back home, among the sectoral indices, Consumer Durables, Auto, Capital Goods and Metal indices were the only pockets of strength, up 0.2-2%.
On the other hand, Health Care, FMCG, PSU, Power, Bankex, Teck, Realty and Oil & Gas indices gave off 0.1-0.7%.
The top gainers among the Sensex-30 were Tata Motors, Jindal Steel, BHEL, L&T, TCS, Tata Steel and Hindalco up 1-3.6%.
Reliance Industries too saw an uptick of 0.9%.
The top losers in the morning deals were pharma majors Dr Reddys Lab, Sun Pharma and Cipla down 1-2%.
FMCG majors ITC and HUL lost 1.5% and 0.7% respectively.
Gail India, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto, Infosys, HDFC, NTPC and Maruti Suzuki down 0.6-1.3% were the other notable losers.
The market breadth was positive. 547 stocks advanced while 243 stocks declined on the BSE.