Mumbai, Sep 19 : The Indian benchmark indices opened marginally lower on Friday, with IT stocks leading the losses in early trade.

As of 9.26 am, Sensex was down 241 points or 0.29 per cent at 82,772 and Nifty was down 63 points or 0.25 per cent at 25,360.

The US Federal Reserve resumed interest rates cut cycle by reducing rates by 25 basis points but the outlook on further easing in the months ahead failed to meet the investors' dovish expectations, while markets awaited more cues into US policy path, according to analysts.

Nifty Midcap 100 inched up by 0.16 per cent, and the Nifty Small cap 100 lost 0.04 per cent.

Hero MotoCorp, Shriram Finance, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC, Tech Mahindra were among major gainers on Nifty, while losers were ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consumer and Titan Company.

Among sectoral indices, Nifty IT, the top loser, lost 0.40 per cent. Nifty FMCG and Nifty Private bank also weighed down on the indices. Except Nifty Realty and PSU Bank all other sectoral indices were trading in the red or with marginal gains.

The Nifty50 held firmly above the 25,400 mark in the previous session, signalling investor confidence with upside momentum intact.

Analysts said that while buying interest is visible at lower levels, the 25,500'25,600 zone remains a stiff hurdle on the upside. On the downside, support is placed at 25,300'25,100 for any minor pullback.

"Market is on an uptrend and is well positioned to set new records soon. Fundamentals, technicals and sentiments are favourable for a steady uptrend. Earnings are likely to improve from Q3 onwards. Technically, short covering is happening and can accelerate," said Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.

From the market sentiment perspective, a US-India trade deal without the penal tariff and a lower reciprocal tariff is likely, he added.

Major US indices made gains overnight as the Nasdaq added 0.94 per cent, the S&P 500 edged up 0.48 per cent and the Dow inched up 0.27 per cent.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in the green during the morning session. While China's Shanghai index dipped 0.12 per cent, and Shenzhen advanced 0.23 per cent, Japan's Nikkei edged up 0.77 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index moved up 0.12 per cent. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.46 per cent.

On Thursday, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased equities worth Rs 366 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of equities worth Rs 3,326 crore.

/IANS