Sensex slides to 34,421, Nifty trades in red, down 116 points

The rupee opened on a weaker note at 73.62 to a US dollar from its previous close, but later recovered to 73.48 against a greenback, while the Brent crude oil price neared the $80 per barrel mark.

Broadly negative Asian markets, along with a marginal rise in global crude oil prices, dragged the key domestic equity indices in the red during the afternoon trade session on Friday.

The Indian rupee opened on a weaker note at 73.62 to a US dollar from its previous close, but later recovered to 73.48 against a greenback, while the Brent crude oil price neared the $80 per barrel mark.

In addition, heavy selling pressure was witnessed in IT, auto and capital goods stocks.

However, expectations of healthy quarterly earning results aided both the indices to pare some of their losses.

Index-wise, the S&P BSE Sensex opened at 34,563.29 points from its previous close of 34,779.58 points on last Wednesday.

The Indian stock and forex markets were shut on account of Dussehra on Thursday.

Around 12:15 pm on Friday, it traded at 34,421.77 points down by 357.81 points or 1.03 per cent.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded in the red.

The NSE Nifty50 traded at 10,337 points during the morning trade session, down 116.05 points and 1.11 per cent.