Sensex, Nifty edge lower dragged by losses in ICICI Bank, TCS

The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Friday dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like ICICI Bank , HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Airtel and Larsen & Toubro. The Sensex fell as much as 193 points and Nifty 50 index dropped below its important psychological level of 25,000.

Meanwhile, most of the Asian markets were trading higher with Japan's Nikkei rising 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advancing 3 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI up 0.33 per cent and Taiwan Weighted up 0.21 per cent.

Overnight, Wall Street's main indexes closed lower on Thursday as investors looked to higher-than-expected inflation and unemployment claims for indications on the health of the U.S. economy and the path for interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 57.88 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 42,454.12, the S&P 500 lost 11.99 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 5,780.05 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 9.57 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 18,282.05.

Back home, as of 9:22 am, the Sensex was down 127 points at 81,484 and Nifty 50 index slipped 25 points to 24.973.

Five of 13 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Financial Services index's 0.5 per cent fall. Nifty Bank, Private Bank and Realty indices were also trading with a negative bias.

On the other hand, metal, pharma, IT, PSU bank and oil & gas shares were witnessing buying interest.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a muted note as Nifty Midcap 100 index slipped 0.02 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.13 per cent.

Tata Consultancy Services was among the top Nifty losers, the stock fell nearly 1 per cent after its profit missed analysts' estimate in second quarter of current financial year. TCS reported net profit of Rs 11,909 crore against estimate of Rs 12,502 crore.

Cipla, Bajaj Finance, Power Grid, ICICI Bank , Eicher Motors, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv and Asian Paints were also among the losers.

On the flipside, HCL technologies, Hindalco, ONGC, Wipro , JSW Steel, Sun Pharma, Titan, Tata Steel and Bajaj Auto were among the gainers.

(With Reuters inputs)