By IANS,
Mumbai : The Indian equity markets, which opened with a positive gap Friday, slipped into the red in highly volatile early trade. Realty, capital goods and oil and gas stocks were under selling pressure.
The 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, opened with a gain of 76.90 points at 15,327.10 points. But 15 minutes into trading, it had slipped to 15,231.36 with a loss of 18.84 points or 0.12 percent from its closing figure Thursday.
At the same time the S&P Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was trading at 4,521.65 with a loss of 17.70 points or 0.39 percent compared to its last close.
However the market breadth was positive. On BSE, 954 shares advanced, 536 declined and 39 remained unchanged.
Ranbaxy Lab, BHEL and ICICI Bank were among the top gainers while Maruti Suzuki, Reliance Infrastructure and NTPC Ltd were among the losers in initial trade.
Other Asian markets were trading flat.