Indian benchmark Indices opened marginally lower on Friday, with NSE's Nifty50 breaking the 11,050 level, as Asian stocks fell amid caution after the European Central Bank slashed its growth forecast. At 9:20 am, the BSE Sensex was trading at 36,639, down 85 points, and the broader Nifty was down 35 points at 11,011. Meanwhile, broader markets outperformed frontline indices with both Nifty MidCap and Nifty Smallcap trading flat.

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IOC, Coal India, ZEE, Wipro and NTPC were the top dragged on the Nifty50, while, L&T, M&M, Axis Bank and SBI stayed positive.

Among sectors, only Nifty FMCG and Nifty Pharma were trading in green. Nifty Metal, Nifty IT, Nifty Realty and Nifty Bank were the worst performing sectors in early morning trade.

Globally, Asian stocks shuddered lower on Friday after the European Central Bank slashed its growth forecasts and launched an emergency round of policy stimulus, leaving investors fearing the worst for the global economy.

ECB President Mario Draghi said the economy was in “a period of continued weakness and pervasive uncertainty” as he pushed out a planned rate hike and instead offered banks a new round of cheap loans.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei led the way with a drop of 0.9 percent, while Australian stocks lost 0.5 percent.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.3 percent, having already shed 0.9 percent the day before.

(With inputs from Reuters)

First Published:Mar 8, 2019 10:01 AM IST