Markets slip in opening, Sensex retreats from record high

Mumbai: Stock markets slipped in opening trade on Friday on profit-booking in recent gainers amid a weak trend at other Asian markets.

In early morning trade, BSE Sensex fell by 94.44 points or 0.25 percent to 37,929.93. The gauge had gained 358.57 points in the previous two sessions. The wider NSE Nifty too came off its record level and dipped 25.45 points, or 0.22 percent to 11,445.25.

SBI, Sun Pharma, Coal India, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, RIL, HDFC,  Wipro, Maruti, Vedanta, ONGC were trading in the negative zone, falling up to 2.07 percent.

Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 85.39 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 370.68 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.

Asian stock markets fell on Friday amid heightened global trade tensions. MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.3 percent.

Japan`s Nikkei stock index fell 0.5 percent despite data showing that the country`s economy expanded at a faster-than-expected annualised rate of 1.9 percent in the second quarter in a sign of improving momentum.

With Agency Inputs