)
Markets opened on a flat note with a negative bias after yesterday's rally. At 0940 hrs, the Sensex was down 26 points at 26,121 and the Nifty dipped 13 points to trade at 7,782.
In the broader markets, the small and midcap indices were almost unchanged.
Defensives pockets were the only sectors in green. IT, FMCG and Health Care indices were up 0.1-0.3%.
FMCG majors ITC and HUL were up 0.3% each.
Wipro up 1% was the top gainer among Sensex-30 along with Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, Tata Power, Maruti Suzuki and ONGC up 0.4-0.7%.
Index heavyweights RIL, HDFC and Infosys were down 0.4% each.
The one prominent names in red were Gail India, Tata Motors, Sesa Sterlite, L&T, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel down 0.6-1.5%.
The market breadth was marginally negative on BSE. 667 stocks declined while 627 stocks advanced.
Global Markets
Asian stock markets edged broadly higher on Thursday and the Australian dollar jumped after a surprisingly strong reading on Chinese manufacturing bolstered hopes for recovery in the world's second-biggest economy.
The HSBC flash PMI came in at 52.0 for July, well above forecasts of a small rise to 51 in July and the highest reading in 18 months. There was also good news on the outlook, with a sub-index of new orders reaching 53.7.
The news injected some life into what had been a very sluggish session, and helped China's CSI300 index of leading Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share jump 1.1%.
Japan's Nikkei added 0.2% while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.3%.
Overnight, Stocks ended mostly higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 closing at a record on Apple's bullish results, though Boeing weighed on the Dow and conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip kept the broader market's gains in check.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.16%, to end at 17,087. The S&P 500 gained 0.18%, to close at 1,987, surpassing the record set on July 3. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.4%, to 4,474.
