Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Mar 22 (ANI): Equity benchmark indices opened on a moderate note but quickly slipped into the negative territory on Friday following selling pressure.
At 11:15 am, the BSE SP Sensex was down 63 points at 38,324 while the NSE Nifty 50 was down 24 points at 11,497.
On the sectoral front, petro, media and IT stocks traded in the red while pharma, banking, auto and infrastructure stocks gained marginally.
SpiceJet traded nearly 8 per cent higher following reports that many pilots of cash-strapped Jet Airways are keen to switch sides.
Among other gainers on the National Stock Exchange were Indiabulls Housing Finance, Godrej Properties, Infosys, Wipro and Hindalco. But Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum traded lower.
Among the most active scrips on National Stock Exchange were Punjab National Bank, Reliance Industries, Maruti and Yes Bank.
Meanwhile, Asian shares gained sharply after upbeat US data and optimism in the tech sector lifted Wall Street stocks.
The International Energy Agency said that the United States has become the world's biggest producer of crude oil ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia, and could become a net oil exporter by 2021.
Brexit worries, however, continued to hang, leading investors to adopt a cautious approach.