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After an initial uptick, benchmark indices slipped in the negative territory as profit booking in financials and Reliance Industries weighed on the indices.
At 0940, the Sensex was down 16 points at 18,964 and the Nifty dropped below the 5,600 mark, to trade lower at 5,576, down 17 points.
The broader markets, too, started on a positive note with the mid and smallcap indices gaining 0.4% each, outperforming the BSE benchmark index which was up 0.2%.
The rupee weakened marginally in early trades against the dollar due to dollar demand from importers. However, as positive sentiments continue due to recent measures announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan, the street experts strengthening in the rupee during the day.
At 0935 hrs, the rupee was trading at Rs 66.11 compared with previous close of Rs 67.09 per dollar. Yesterday RBI announced yet another measures to attract foreign flows.
In Asia, markets were under pressure as many investors hugged the sidelines, ahead of US jobs data that should cement the case for the Federal Reserve to begin scaling back its stimulus later this month.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.1% after six days of gains - its longest winning streak since December. It was on track to end the week up more than 2%.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei shed 1.1% as investors locked in profit after a sharp rally in real estate and construction firms on hopes the city will win its 2020 Olympic Games bid this weekend. The index was still up 3.9% this week, however.
Back home, on the sectoral front, IT, Health Care, Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and FMCG indices were in the green, up 0.3-0.8%.
Meanwhile, Realty, Metal, Bankex, Oil & Gas, Auto, PSU and Power indices were in the red, losing 0.2-0.7%.
The top gainers among the Sensex-30 were ICICI Bank, ONGC and Dr Reddys Lab up 2% each.
IT names - TCS, Infosys and Wipro advanced 1-2%.
Sun Pharma, L&T, Bharti Airtel, Jindal Steel and ITC up 0.6-1% were the other notable gainers.
Among teh ones in the red were Sesa Goa down over 5%, along with Coal India, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC, Gail India, SBI, Tata Motors, BHEL and Maruti Suzuki which slipped 1-2%.
The market breadth was positive. 494 stocks advanced while 357 stocks declined on the BSE.
