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Markets pared early gains and were trading marginally lower as investors turned cautious and booked profit in bank shares ahead of November industrial production data tomorrow and inflation numbers due for release on Monday.
At 10:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 12 points at 20,717 and the 50-share Nifty was down 6 points at 6,168.
"If the Nifty sustains trading below 6155 mark then we should expect that the market may extend loss till 6095 - 5950 - 5910. Nifty likely to find resistance at 6191 - 6207 - 6222 and supports at 6159 - 6143 - 6127 for the day," Equentis Capital said in a note.
The rupee continued to trade weak at 62.23 compared to its close of 62.07 on Wednesday, after the US dollar firmed up against major currencies. Currently, Asian currencies are trading mixed versus the US dollar.
Meanwhile, Asian shares except for the Shanghai COmposite were trading lower tracking weak global cues after after a lackluster performance on Wall Street overnight and ahead of a key U.S. jobs report due out the following day.
China's Shanghai Composite was marginally up 0.4% after its annual consumer inflation in December, eased more than expected to 2.5% from the previous month's 3%.
Despite the yen's weakness, stocks in Japan witnessed profit taking after recent gains. Japan's Nikkei was down 1.7%. Straits Times and Hang Seng were marginally down.
The BSE Bankex was the top loser among the sectoral indices down 0.8% followed by FMCG, Capital Goods and Realty.
In the banking space, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI were down 0.1-2% each. hih
FMCG shares witnessed profit taking as high inflation levels leads to lower consumer spends thereby hurting volume growth. ITC was down 0.8% and Hindustan Unilever was down 0.4%.
Tata Motors witnessed profit taking after recent gains and was down 0.5%.
Infosys witnessed short covering at lower levels after the recent correction and was up nearly 1% ahead of its third quarter earnings due tomorrow.
Coal India was up 1.4% on plans of the company's board to announce interim dividend.
Other Sensex gainers include, Sesa Sterlite, ONCG, Dr Reddy's Labs, M&M and NTPC.
Among other shares, Mastek has rallied 5% to Rs 209 on BSE after the company said it will buy back shares worth up to Rs 55 crore at a price not exceeding Rs 250 per share. The buyback will be through open market transactions.
Shares of gold loan companies like Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance have frozen upper circuit of 20% each after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has eased the norms for extending loans against gold jewellery as collateral.
Jubilant FoodWorks was marginally down after slipping nearly 3% in early trades after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) barred buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in shares of the company as the foreign shareholding in the company has reached the trigger limit.
Suven Life Sciences has surged 6% to Rs 81.45 after the company announced that it has secured three products patents each from Australia, Sri Lanka and South Korea corresponding to the New Chemical Entities (NCEs) for the treatment of disorders associated with Neurodegenerative diseases.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices trimmed most of their early gains and were up 0.1-0.2% each.
Market breadth was positive with 958 gainers and 765 losers on the BSE.
