The Indian equity benchmark indices opened lower on Thursday, taking a breather from an eight-day rally, dragged by selling in financial stocks.

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At 9:15 am, the Sensex opened 0.69 percent, or 301.78 points, lower at 43,291.89, while the Nifty50 index opened at 12,702.15, down 47.00 points, or 0.37 percent.

Broader markets outperformed the frontline indices as Nifty Smallcap100 and Nifty Midcap100 indices were trading 0.5 percent higher each.

Meanwhile, investors will keep an eye on Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's media address at 12:30 pm today, in which she is likely to announce the next stimulus package.

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services were trading in the red while Nifty IT, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Auto witnessed buying.

Coal India, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI and IndusInd Bank were the top Nifty50 losers while Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindalco, Shree Cement, Infosys and Titan were the top gainers.

Coal India shares declined over 3 percent after the company’s net profit in Q2FY21 fell 16.2 percent to Rs 2,951.6 crore from Rs 3,522.9 crore while revenue increased 3.8 percent to Rs 21,153.1 crore from Rs 20,382.6 crore, YoY.

Globally, Asian shares rose toward a more than two-year peak on Thursday, buoyed by sustained global stimulus efforts and hopes of a coronavirus vaccine, but some analysts warned of the risk of a correction lower, Reuters reported.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.44 percent, approaching the highest since January 2018. Chinese shares rose 0.37 percent. Stocks in Japan rose 0.62 percent to a 29-year high.

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