Mumbai:Indian equity markets, which opened lower Thusday, slipped sharply in initial trade. There was heavy selling pressure on realty, auto, banking, power and capital goods stocks.

The 30 share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, opened with a loss of 75.44 points at 15,017.68. Ten minutes into trading, it had slipped way down to 14,902.89 points, 190.23 points or 1.26 percent below its closing figure Wednesday.

At the same time the S&P CNX Nifty indexd of the National Stock Exchange was trading at 4,480.00 with a loss of 49.05 points or 1.08 percent from its previous close.

The market breadth was negative. On BSE, 567 shares advanced, 899 declined and 51 remained unchanged.

Sterlite Industries, Infosys and Satyam Computers were among the few gainers while DLF, HDFC and ICICI Bank were among the major losers in initial trade.

Other Asian markets were trading mixed.

Source : IANS