New Delhi, October 3 (HS): Domestic equities witnessed a choppy start on Friday , with both benchmark indices coming under pressure in early trade. The Sensex opened with a marginal uptick, while the Nifty slipped at the open. However, selling pressure soon dragged the indices lower. Buying interest emerged briefly, lifting both benchmarks into positive territory around 10 a.m., but renewed profit-booking erased gains once again. By 10:15 a.m., the Sensex was down 98.59 points, or 0.12 percent, at 80,884.72, while the Nifty slipped 38.45 points, or 0.15 percent, to 24,797.85.

Among heavyweights, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, Hindalco Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bharat Electronics were trading higher, gaining between 1.69 percent and 3.36 percent. On the losing side, Max Healthcare, Coal India, Shriram Finance, Bajaj Finserv and ONGC declined 0.93 percent to 2.08 percent.

Market breadth remained positive despite frontline volatility. Out of 2,518 active stocks, 1,626 were advancing while 892 were trading in negative territory. Within the Sensex pack, 13 stocks held in the green against 17 in red, while in the Nifty basket, 18 stocks were higher and 32 were lower.At the open, the BSE Sensex rose 25.08 points to 81,008.39 but quickly slipped to 80,649.57 on selling pressure.

The index subsequently recovered to a high of 81,018.61 before retreating again. On the NSE, the Nifty opened lower at 24,759.55, dipped further to 24,747.55, then rebounded to 24,855.70 before losing steam again.

In the previous trading session on Wednesday, the Sensex had surged 715.69 points, or 0.89 percent, to 80,983.31, while the Nifty settled 225.20 points, or 0.92 percent, higher at 24,836.30.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar