By IANS,
Mumbai : Indian equities markets opened marginally lower Friday, slid into negative territory but were recovering mid-afternoon although a key index was still down nearly 60 points.
Mid-afternoon, the 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was ruling at 9,170.25, down 59.50 points or 0.64 percent from its previous close Thursday at 9,229.75 points.
The Sensex opened some 25 points lower at 9,204.69 points, hit a high of 9,340.69 before slipping to its current value.
The broader-based 50-share S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), also showed a similar trend and mid-afternoon was ruling at 2774.70, down 13.3 points or 0.48 percent percent from its previous close Thursday at 2788.00 points.
Mid-afternoon, the BSE midcap index was, however, marginally in the green and was ruling at 2,932.50, up 9.70 points or 0.33 percent from its previous close Thursday at 2,922.80 points.
The BSE smallcap index too was marginally in the green and was ruling at 3,346.85, up 15.05 points or 0.45 percent from its previous close Thursday at 3,331.80 points.
Of the 13 sectoral indices, only three – automobiles, realty and bank – were in the green. The major losers were information technology, consumer durables, telecommunication, entertainment and media and technology and metal stocks.
Overnight US markets closed in the red with a key index of the New York Stock Exchange finishing 3.21 percent lower. The Nasdaq index closed 3.14 percent lower than its previous close Wednesday.
Asian markets were mixed with the Nikkei, key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange ruling 0.08 percent lower but the Hang Seng, key index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was showing gains of 1.93 percent.
The underlying sentiment is still very much negative and so despite the surge Thursday, markets are again in a bear grip, analysts said.