Sensex down 200 points, ITC, Asian Paints and HUL top losers

Indian frontline indices opened lower on Friday due to heavyweights like ITC, HUL, Asian Paints and M&M falling the most.

At 9.58 a.m., Sensex was down 200 points or 0.25 per cent at 82,762 and Nifty was down 63 points or 0.25 per cent at 25,325.

The broader market trend remained bullish. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1697 shares were trading in the green and 598 shares in the red.

In early trading hours, Nifty midcap 100 index was up 363 points or 0.61 per cent at 60,003 and Nifty smallcap 100 index was up 128 points or 0.66 per cent at 19,482.

In the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Wipro, JSW Steel, Tata Motors, Power Grid, Nestle, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, SBI, Bajaj Finserv, SBI and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top gainers. Asian Paints, HUL, ITC, Bharti Airtel, M&M, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki and UltraTech Cement were the top losers.

Among the sectoral indices, FMCG, pharma, fin service and IT fell the most. PSU bank, metal, realty and media contributed the most.

Hardik Matalia, Derivative Analyst of Choice Broking said, "After a gap up opening, Nifty can find support at 25,300 followed by 25,250 and 25,200. On the higher side, 25,500 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 25,550 and 25,600."

"Traders holding long positions are advised to maintain them with a trailing stop loss at 25,000 on a closing basis while adding on dips remains a prudent strategy," he added.

Mixed trading is taking place in Asian markets. Hong Kong, Bangkok and Jakarta are in the red. Tokyo, Shanghai and Seoul are in the green. The US markets closed in the green on Thursday.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 7,695 crore on September 12, while domestic institutional investors also bought equities worth Rs 1,800 crore on the same day.

(With inputs from IANS)