Stock markets shed early gains to trade lower

Mumbai: Market benchmark indices began the trade on a positive note on Friday amid a largely firm trend in other Asian equities but later gave up all the initial gains and were trading lower.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 179.28 points to 61,929.88 in early trade. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 50.7 points to 18,394.60.

However, later both the benchmark indices shed early gains and were quoting lower. The BSE benchmark traded 48.91 points lower at 61,701.69 at 09:47 hours. The Nifty was trading with a decline of 20.25 points at 18,323.65.

From the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro and State Bank of India were among the winners in early trade.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti, Titan, Tech Mahindra and Bharti Airtel were among the laggards.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong were trading higher, while Shanghai quoted lower.

Wall Street had ended in the negative territory on Thursday.

"There are no major global or domestic triggers that can move the markets decisively as of now. Therefore, the market is likely to meander around the current levels," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The BSE benchmark declined 230.12 points or 0.37 per cent to settle at 61,750.60 on Thursday. The Nifty dipped 65.75 points or 0.36 per cent to end at 18,343.90.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.71 per cent higher at USD 90.42 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 618.37 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data.