Sensex, Nifty end in red; Infosys up 1% ahead of Q4 results

03:40 pm Market closing
After remaining under pressure for the whole day, the market ended on a negative note. The Sensex was down 86.37 points at 22628.96, and the Nifty was down 20.10 points at 6776.30.  About 1473 shares have advanced, 1227 shares declined, and 171 shares are unchanged.

Sun Pharma, TCS and Wipro were up over 1 percent each. Cipla and Infosys were other gainers in the Sensex. Among the laggards are M&M, Tata Motors, Reliance, SBI and GAIL.

03:30 pm Car recall
Automaker Maruti Suzuki India is to recall more than 103,000 of its Ertiga, Swift and Dzire vehicles to replace faulty fuel caps that could lead to fuel leaks in extreme cases.

Maruti Suzuki dealers will contact the owners of all 103,311 affected vehicles - which include those made between November 12 last year and February 4 this year - to replace the 'fuel filler neck', the company said in a statement on Friday.

There is a chance of a fuel smell in the affected vehicles, said the car maker, which accounts for almost 1 of every 2 cars sold in India, and the possibility of fuel leakage in extreme cases, should fuel levels exceed an automatic cut-off level.

03:20 pm Bimal Jalan speaks
After the Reserve Bank of India issued bank licences to IDFC and microfinance firm Bandhan on the recommendations of a committee led by ex RBI governor Bimal Jalan, CNBC-TV18 spoke with the former central banker to obtain his views on the process, the economy in general and on the topic of the current account deficit (the March trade data came in soon after the interview).

''That is exactly the right approach to take,'' Jalan told CNBC-TV18. ''There is no reason why we should wait and not grant licence to those who are eligible in different areas.''

03:10 pm Interview
Rubbishing reports that the company is putting on hold its capital expansion plans for India, Shantanu Dasgupta, vice president-Corporate Affairs And Strategy-Asia South, Whirlpool, says the company's capex is, infact, increasing on an absolute basis.

''Out spending right now is 50 percent higher than in 2012. Since the slowdown, it is going towards innovation and newer product launches, than mere expansion,'' he adds.

Dasgupta is very bullish on the upcoming days given the rise in temperatures being felt across the country in just the first few days of summer season. The company manufactures home appliances, air conditioners and refrigerators.

Dasgupta further says the rupee appreciation will help the company's margins as the pricing pressure is likely to ease as the currency strengthens. However, the company will focus more on increasing its market share in India in FY15 than its volume growth, he adds.

02:55pm FII View
The dent seen in the morning trade is no reason to write off the rally being witnessed in the past couple of weeks, and the trend is likely to continue, says Manishi Raychaudhari of BNP Paribas Securities.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Raychaudhari said an expectation of a stable government at the Centre coupled with weakening of China and Korea's image as investment hubs remain chief drivers of the rally. The residual steam in the market has the power to offer 12-15 percent returns from the current elevated levels. BNP Paribas Securities is overweight on India with 2014 Sensex target of 24000.

02:45pm Maruti Suzuki to recall vehicles
India's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki said it would recall 1.03 lakh vehicles starting today.

"We will recall 47,237 units of Swift, 42,481 units of DZire and 13,593 units of Ertiga made between November 12, 2013-February 4, 2014. We will replace fuel filler neck in recalled vehicles," he added.

Maruti's stock declined 1.4 percent to Rs 1931.75 on the BSE.

02:40pm Daiichi Sankyo on Sun-Ranbaxy merger
Ranbaxy's promoter Daiichi Sankyo said the merger with Sun Pharma would be completed by 2014-end, post regulatory nod. The merger will help develop hybrid business model, he added.

02:30pm Vodafone India in News
UK-based Vodafone today said it now fully own its Indian subsidiary with the acquisition of equity stakes held by Analjit Singh and Piramal Enterprises for Rs 10,142 crore.

The company in March 2014, had said it completed the acquisition of indirect equity interests in Vodafone India (VIL) held by Analjit Singh and Neelu Analjit Singh, taking its stake to 89.03 percent in the local unit.

It acquired the remaining 10.97 percent of VIL today from Piramal Enterprises Limited. "The combined cash consideration for both transactions was Rs 10,142 crore," it said in a statement.

"We are delighted to have secured 100 per cent ownership of one of our fastest growing businesses. Vodafone is strongly committed to India and we have invested significantly over many years to bring communications to millions of people for the first time," Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said.

02:20pm Gold, Silver imports drop
Gold and silver imports into India, the world's second-biggest buyer of the metal, dropped 40 percent to USD 33.46 billion in 2013/14, a trade ministry source said on Friday, following a series of restrictions imposed by the government to curtail the current account deficit.

However, the fall in gold and silver imports narrowed in March, registering a fall of 17.27 percent from a year earlier to USD 2.76 billion, the source, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

Last month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed five more private banks to import the yellow metal, in what many saw it as a first significant step in easing of tough rules on imports, reports Reuters.

02:10pm Market Expert
The latest strategy report from Edelweiss expects the current upswing to sustain and market sentiment to remain buoyed on account of improving macros and the political scene and feel BJP's tally could come in at 250, providing a stable government at the centre.

The author of the report, Nischal Maheshwari, Edelweiss Financial Services told CNBC-TV18 that market is yet to factor in a 250+ seat win for BJP. According to him, a stable government looks certain. There is improvement is macros and the political optimism.

Maheshwari believes broader markets are not much expensive despite the continuous rally seen in the Indian market. He expects a sharp rally of around 5-7 percent in the next couple of days.

02:00pm The market continued to trade lower weighed down by profit booking in index heavyweights HDFC and Reliance Industries. However, the buying in HDFC Bank and ITC capped the downside.

The Sensex went down 147.63 points to 22567.70 and the Nifty fell 40.35 points to 6756.05. About 1347 shares have advanced, 1216 shares declined, and 183 shares are unchanged.

Housing finance company HDFC and petrochemical major Reliance Industries dropped nearly 2 percent. Top private sector lender ICICI Bank and engineering & construction major L&T slipped over a percent.

Software services exporter Infosys declined 0.8 percent ahead of fourth quarter earnings on April 15. According to CNBC-TV18 poll, profit after tax of the company is likely to fall 1.4 percent sequentially to Rs 2,835 crore, which is lower than company's guided range of negative 0.4 percent to 1.4 percent.

2:00 pm Auto outlook: Car sales in India are expected to rise marginally this fiscal year after posting two straight years of decline, an industry body said.

"Not fancy growth but hopefully some moderate growth is expected because there has been some improvement in GDP numbers in recent months," said Vikram Kirloskar, president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), referring to sales of cars and utility vehicles during the year to March 2015.

He declined to give a specific forecast, but said he expected the sales to rise "more than zero percent".

Passenger car sales fell 4.7 percent in the year to March, data released by SIAM showed on Friday.

1:50 pm Opinion: Manishi Raychaudhari of BNP Paribas Securities said an expectation of a stable government at the Centre coupled with weakening of China and Korea's image as investment hubs remain chief drivers of the rally. The residual steam in the market has the power to offer 12-15 percent returns from the current elevated levels. BNP Paribas Securities is overweight on India with 2014 Sensex target of 24000.

Discussing the sharp correction in Nasdaq and S&P 500 on Thursday, Raychaudhuri said it was long overdue. While Nasdaq fell 3 percent, S&P closed below its 50-day moving average for the first time since February 10. But India resisted the fall to a great extent on Friday morning although other Asian markets cracked up under pressure. That's what is making India a formidable investment destination. That's the reason BNP Paribas is overweight on India. In the same breath, Raychaudhuri reminds that a pick-up in investment cycle will not be immediate although the rally will continue.

1:40 pm Trading tips: Deven Choksey, MD, KR Choksey Shares & Securities feels the market is giving an opportunity for long-term investors having inherent strength for growth.

On the banking front, he prefers buying into the likes of State Bank of India (SBI) and Bank of Baroda (BoB) while amongst NBFCs, LIC Housing Finance and Bajaj Finserv remain his fave picks.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Choksey says Sesa Sterlite and Hindustan Zinc are two stocks in the metals space where one should stay invested fr at least one and half two years.

1:30 pm Infosys Poll: India's second largest software services exporter Infosys is set to report subdued performance in January-March quarter of financial year 2013-14, say analysts. This may be largely in line with what the company's executive chairman Nayarana Murthy and CEO SD Shibulal indicated before the end of March quarter. It will declare its quarterly earnings on April 15.

According to CNBC-TV18 poll, profit after tax of the company is likely to fall 1.4 percent sequentially to Rs 2,835 crore, which is lower than company's guided range of negative 0.4 percent to 1.4 percent. Dollar revenue may be flat at USD 2102 million as against USD 2100 million while rupee revenue is expected to be at Rs 12,962 crore, down 0.5 percent compared to previous quarter.

1:20 pm Market outlook: The latest strategy report from Edelweiss expects the current upswing to sustain and market sentiment to remain buoyed on account of improving macros and the political scene and feel BJP's tally could come in at 250, providing a stable government at the centre.

The author of the report, Nischal Maheshwari, Edelweiss Financial Services told CNBC-TV18 that market is yet to factor in a 250+ seat win for BJP. He expects a sharp rally of around 5-7 percent in the next couple of days, which could be a repeat of 2009.

He picks L&T, Axis Bank, LIC Housing Finance, Persistent Systems as his top bets and recommends buying State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Oriental Bank only for trading purpose.

1:07 pm Trade Data: Trade deficit at USD 10.5 bn Vs USD 8.13 bn (MoM)

• Exports at USD 29.57 bn USD 25.68 bn (MoM)
• Imports at USD 40.08 bn Vs USD 33.81 bn (MoM)
• Oil imports at USD 15.78 bn Vs USD 13.7 bn (MoM)
• Non-oil imports at USD24.3 bn Vs USD 20.12 bn (MoM)

The market continues to fall as global sentiment turns nervous. The Sensex is down 100.50 points at 22614.83, and the Nifty is down 26.95 points at 6769.45. About 1302 shares have advanced, 1129 shares declined, and 185 shares are unchanged.

Banks and auto stocks drag markets lower while pharma stocks gain. Sun Pharma still holds up gains for fourth day, up 2 percent. Other gainers are Cipla, Tata Steel, Dr Reddy's Labs and NTPC. Among the losers are HDFC, Maruti Suzuki, Hero Motocorp, Infosys and Wipro.

Meanwhile, March trade data disappoints as oil imports surge.

IT sector earnings are in focus with Infosys posting its fourth quarter earnings on April 15. Analysts expect muted growth as fourth quarter is seasonally a weak quarter. Margins may come under pressure on back of appreciating rupee.

12:55pm Infosys in news
Infosys said the company had started a search for chief executive SD Shibulal's successor and appointed Egon Zehnder to assist the nominations committee in identifying external candidates.

Shibulal, one of the seven Infosys founders, wants to retire as chief executive of the company on or before January 9, 2015, or when his successor is ready to assume office, whichever is date earlier, a company statement said.

12:40pm Tata Teleservices up 5%
Shares of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) rose 5 percent on news of fund infusion. According to reports, the beleaguered telecom company will be injected Rs 2000 crore by Tata group.

The funding will be made as equity within the next two years to service its loans. This will be in addition to the Rs 2,480 crore, which the group has pumped in January this year.

The January fund infusion was made by the Tatas as compulsorily convertible preference shares. The promoters have invested a total amount of Rs 25,947 crore in TTML.

Tata Sons owns 60 percent and Japanese telecom giant DoCoMo holds 26 percent in TTML.

12:30pm Aircel in focus
The promoters and investors of Aircel are looking to exit the company and have invited request for quotations for stake sale, sources told CNBC-TV18.

CNBC-TV18 had reported in March that Malaysia's Maxis Communications, promoters of Aircel, was in talks to sell its majority stake in the Chennai-based telco. Though the shareholding pattern is not available in the public domain as Aircel is not a listed company, but Maxis approximately holds 74 percent in Aircel.

According to sources, multiple investors have envisaged interest in buying stake in the company. The prospective investors include Idea, Telenor, AT&T and MTN.

Idea Cellular, the likely frontrunner, and Telenor have already initiated the due diligence process, sources said. Aircel promoters have set a June deadline for quotation.

Though valuation figures are still being worked on, sources said it could be a significantly large deal in the range of over Rs 20,000 crore.

12:20pm FII View
The dent seen in the morning trade is no reason to write off the rally being witnessed in the past couple of weeks, and the trend is likely to continue, says Manishi Raychaudhari of BNP Paribas Securities.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Raychaudhari said an expectation of a stable government at the Centre coupled with weakening of China and Korea's image as investment hubs remain chief drivers of the rally. The residual steam in the market has the power to offer 12-15 percent returns from the current elevated levels. BNP Paribas Securities is overweight on India with 2014 Sensex target of 24000.

12:10pm Shilpa Medicare
Shares in Shilpa Medicare gained as much as 5.5 percent to a record high of Rs 457.80 ahead of a board meeting later in the day to consider a preferential issue, traders say.

The company, backed by private equity funds Baring Private Equity Partners and Tano Capital, said on Wednesday its board will meet on April 11 to consider a preferential allotment of shares, reports Reuters.

12:00pm Equity benchmarks fell over 0.6 percent but the broader markets beat benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap rising 0.2 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

The Sensex slipped 156.72 points to 22558.61 and the Nifty declined 43.15 points to 6753.25. About 1178 shares have advanced, 1131 shares declined, and 158 shares are unchanged.

Housing finance company HDFC tumbled 2 percent. Shares of Reliance Industries, Infosys, L&T, M&M, Hero Motocorop and Maruti dropped 1-1.6 percent.

Top private sector lender ICICI Bank lost over 1 percent while rivals SBI and Axis Bank declined 0.7 percent each.

However, pharma stocks outperformed with the BSE Healthcare index rising 1 percent. Drug major Sun Pharma recouped all its previous day's losses, gaining 2.7 percent followed by Dr Reddy's Labs and Cipla with 1 percent.

11:50 am IT Q4 preview: Ashwin Mehta, IT analyst , Nomura India expects IT majors like Wipro, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra to post dollar revenue growth of 3 percent in Q4, slightly higher than behemoths, Infosys and TCS.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Mehta says Q4 is anyway a seasonally weak quarter and the rupee appreciation will cause margins to be on slightly lower side.

Mehta further says weak India business, that has plagued most IT companies, may result in a dip in TCS' margins.

''TCS has a lot of business with the government and this year the spending has been soft.  This will most likely lead to its margins declining,'' he adds.

11:40 am Buzzing: Shares of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) rose 9 percent intraday on news of fund infusion. According to reports, the beleaguered telecom company will be injected Rs 2000 crore by Tata group.

The funding will be made as equity within the next two years to service its loans. This will be in addition to the Rs 2,480 crore, which the group has pumped in January this year.

The January fund infusion was made by the Tatas as compulsorily convertible preference shares. The promoters have invested a total amount of Rs 25,947 crore in TTML.

11:30 am International  market: Lewis Alexander, Managing Director & US Chief Economist, Nomura does not see any fundamental problem in the US market.

The nervousness, he says, really started with the employment report at the end of last week. It shows that the economic recovery wasn't quite as robust as people had hoped. ''I think you are dealing with a set of markets that have gone up pretty much in the straight line for a while and frankly we are due for a correction,'' he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

11:20 am Infosys Poll: India's second largest software services exporter Infosys is set to report subdued performance in January-March quarter of financial year 2013-14, say analysts. This may be largely in line with what the company's executive chairman Nayarana Murthy and CEO SD Shibulal indicated before the end of March quarter. It will declare its quarterly earnings on April 15.

According to CNBC-TV18 poll, profit after tax of the company is likely to fall 1.4 percent sequentially to Rs 2,835 crore, which is lower than company's guided range of negative 0.4 percent to 1.4 percent.

Dollar revenue may be flat at USD 2102 million as against USD 2100 million while rupee revenue is expected to be at Rs 12,962 crore, down 0.5 percent compared to previous quarter.

Selling pressure continues in the market as it prepares for a long weekend. The Sensex is down 131.09 points at 22584.24 and the Nifty slips 36.65 points to 6759.75.

About 1122 shares have advanced, 937 shares declined, and 129 shares are unchanged.

HDFC and Maruti Suzuki are down 2 percent while HUL, M&M and L&T are other laggards in the Sensex.

Banks are weak ahead of index of industrial production (IIP) data to be announced in the evening. Industrial output in February is likely to improve to 0.34 percent compared to 0.1 percent in January, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll.

The uptick in core data is resulting in some overall optimism. The economy is at a stage where 0.3 percent growth is looking like optimistic because April to January, the growth in industrial output was zero. Even for the last month January, the numbers for industrial growth are as low as 0.1 percent. Therefore, 0.3 percent looks better. In December the figure was minus 0.2 percent.

Rupee hit a one week low of 60.3 per dollar due to weak global cues. Government bonds prices fell slightly as market participants avoided fresh heavy positions ahead of the RBI's Rs16000cr gilt auction today.

The dollar struggles to find support and is heading for its biggest weekly fall in 9 months. The benchmark US 10-year yield too has fallen to its lowest in nearly four weeks.

In commodities, Brent drops towards USD 107/bbl on improving global supply outlook. Gold, meanwhile, heads to near 2.5 week highs on track for its best week in a month.

Asian stocks are under selling pressure following heavy losses on Wall Street which have overshadowed benign Chinese consumer inflation data.

10:59am Buzzing stocks
Tatas will need to invest another Rs 2,000 crore in Tata Teleservices over the next two years. This fund infusion is to service its debt. Tata Teleservices gained 6 percent.

HCL Infosystems declined 3 percent after HCL Corporation CEO Roshni Nadar denied plans of any merger of HCL Infosystems and HCL Technologies.

L&T Finance slipped over 1 percent. Goldman Sachs initiates coverage with sell with a target price of Rs 60. The brokerage house sees lower return on assets/return on equity in FY16e relative to NBFC peers.

Strides Arcolab climbed 3 percent after it received USFDA approval for antibiotic Ampicillin.

10:50am Max India gains 2%
Dynavest India, a promoter of Max India, on Thursday picked up 26 lakh shares of the group with interest in healthcare and insurance business for about Rs 51.65 crore, through open market.

The stock was purchased from a Max India shareholder, Cresta Fund, as per block deal information with the bourses.

Max India shares were acquired at an average price of Rs 198.65 apiece, amounting to Rs 51.65 crore.

At the end of the quarter ended December 31, Dynavest held 1.36 crore shares of Max representing 5.13 percent stake in the entity. Cresta Fund held 28.24 lakh shares, about 1.06 percent stake, reports PTI.

10:40am Industrial output
The index of industrial production (IIP) in February is likely to improve to 0.34 percent compared to 0.1 percent in January, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll.

The uptick in core data is resulting in some overall optimism. The economy is at a stage where 0.3 percent growth is looking like optimistic because April to January, the growth in industrial output was zero. Even for the last month January, the numbers for industrial growth are as low as 0.1 percent. Therefore, 0.3 percent looks better. In December the figure was minus 0.2 percent. It was a contraction all the way up until September.

10:30am Lok Sabha Elections
Voting for the lone Lok Sabha constituency and an Assembly by-poll in Mizoram began today, for which additional eight companies of central para-military forces have been deployed.

The by-poll is being held to the Hrangturzo Assembly constituency as well.

The lone Mizoram Lok Sabha seat is witnessing a three-cornered contest. The triangular contest is among ruling Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and United Democratic Front (UDF), which is an alliance of eight opposition parties.

Mizoram Lok Sabha seat has 7, 02,189 voters, of whom 3,55,954 were women. There are 1,126 polling stations of which 385, mainly in the urban areas, would use the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system.

The polling was originally scheduled for April 9 but the Election Commission postponed it to tomorrow after Mizoram-based civil society bodies called a 72-hour bandh in the state from April 7 in protest against its move to allow Bru refugees to vote in Tripura.

10:20am FII View
Laurence Balanco, CLSA says the brokerage continues to expect a period of weakness in the coming sessions. ''However, the markets have confirmed the recent highs, which suggests that a pullback should be short-lived and followed by new highs,'' he adds.

According to him, a pullback to the 6,480 area should be seen as a buying opportunity in anticipation of a move up the 7,036 area.

10:10am IndusInd Bank slips 2%
The RBI has on Thursday notified that the foreign share holding through foreign institutional investors (FIIs)/non-resident Indians (NRIs)/persons of Indian origin (PIOs)/foreign direct investment (FDI)/American depository receipt (ADR)/global depository receipts (GDRs) in Induslnd Bank has reached the trigger limit, the RBI said in its release.

Hence, further purchases of equity shares of the bank would be allowed only after obtaining prior approval of the RBI, the central bank further said.

FIIs held 41.13 percent stake in the bank as of December 2013.

10:00am Equity benchmarks continued to see selling pressure weighed down by profit booking in banking & financials, FMCG, metals and capital goods stocks. But the Nifty managed to hold the 6750 level amid this pressure, supported by healthcare stocks and index heavyweight Reliance Industries.

The index fell 30.60 points to 6765.80 and the Sensex declined 116.61 points to 22598.72. However, the broader markets continued to outperform benchmarks for the third consecutive session.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained half a percent. Advancers beat decliners by a ratio of 913 to 773 on the BSE.

Housing finance company HDFC and engineering & construction major L&T slipped over a percent. Infosys too lost over a percent ahead of Q4 earnings on April 15, continuing downtrend for the third straight day. TCS and Wipro plummeted 0.9 percent each.

Shares of ICICI Bank, TCS, ITC, ONGC, M&M, Wipro and Hindustan Unilever fell 0.4-0.9 percent.

However, healthcare stocks bucked the trend. Sun Pharma gained 1.6 percent and Cipla rose 1.3 percent while Dr Reddy's Labs climbed 0.7 percent.

10:00 am RBI norms: A Reserve Bank panel suggested a benchmark floating interest rate, especially for home loans, to bring greater transparency in the pricing of credit.
"The Indian Banks Association (IBA) may develop a new benchmark for floating interest rate products, namely, the Indian Banks Base Rate (IBBR), which may be collated and published by IBA on a periodic basis," according to the draft report of the Working Group on Pricing of Credit.

The panel headed by former RBI Deputy Governor Anand Sinha said to begin with, IBBR may be used for home loans. The working group was set up to examine issues related to discrimination in the pricing of credit and recommend measures for transparent and appropriate pricing of credit under a floating rate regime.

The floating rate loan covenant may have interest rate reset periodicity and the resets may be done on those dates only, irrespective of changes made to the base rate or minimum lending rate within the reset period, it said.

9:50 am Buzzing: Shares of IndusInd Bank fell as much as 2.5 percent after the Reserve Bank of India said FIIs shareholding in the bank has reached trigger limit.

"The RBI has on Thursday notified that the foreign share holding through foreign institutional investors (FIIs)/non-resident Indians (NRIs)/persons of Indian origin (PIOs)/foreign direct investment (FDI)/American depository receipt (ADR)/global depository receipts (GDRs) in Induslnd Bank has reached the trigger limit," the RBI said in its release.

"Hence, further purchases of equity shares of the bank would be allowed only after obtaining prior approval of the RBI," the central bank added.

9:40 am IIP poll: The index of industrial production (IIP) in February is likely to improve to 0.34 percent compared to 0.1 percent in January, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll. The uptick in core data is resulting in some overall optimism.

The economy is at a stage where 0.3 percent growth is looking like optimistic because April to January, the growth in industrial output was zero. Even for the last month January, the numbers for industrial growth are as low as 0.1 percent. Therefore, 0.3 percent looks better. In December the figure was minus 0.2 percent. It was a contraction all the way up until September.

9:30 am FII view: Laurence Balanco, CLSA says the brokerage continues to expect a period of weakness in the coming sessions. ''However, the markets have confirmed the recent highs, which suggests that a pullback should be short-lived and followed by new highs,'' he adds.

According to him, a pullback to the 6,480 area should be seen as a buying opportunity in anticipation of a move up the 7,036 area.

The market tumbles in opening on weak global cues. The Sensex is down 124.48 points at 22590.85, and the Nifty is down 38.05 points at 6758.35. About 204 shares have advanced, 241 shares declined, and 24 shares are unchanged.

SBI, Hindalco, Axis Bank, Tata Steel and Sesa Sterlite lose while Cipla, Sesa Sterlite and HUL are top gainers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened weak in the early trade on Friday. It slipped by 25 paise at 60.32 per dollar versus 60.07 Thursday.The dollar is on track for its biggest weekly fall in nine-months early, having given up all of its recent gains as markets become increasingly convinced that any interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve is still a long way off.

The dollar index slips below the 80 mark. The index is down 1.28 percent so far this week.
Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity Group said that, "Indian equity markets are expected to trade low over profit booking after sharp cuts seen across global markets."

With the Dow recording its worst fall in 2 months, US Stocks slammed on Thursday. The S&P fell below its 50-day moving average and dangerously close to its 100 DMA as well. The Nasdaq composite suffered its worst day since late 2011 with high-flying technology and biotech shares leading the declines.

In the UK, the Bank of England's monetary policy committee has voted to leave UK interest rates unchanged at their record low of 0.5 percent. The BOE has also made no change to its quantitative easing programme.

In commodities, Brent crude hovers around 107 dollars while crude oil prices slip slightly, pressured by weaker economic data from china as well as the prospect of a rebound in oil exports from Libya.

From precious metals space, gold rises 1 percent higher on Thursday near a 2-and-a-half week high, boosted by follow-through buying, marginally lower in morning trade.