Indian equity markets were trading lower on Friday, as heightened geopolitical tensions in West Asia coupled with a rise in crude oil prices dampened investor confidence and triggered selling pressure.

At 10:40 hours, the 30-share benchmark index was trading at 77514.62 down by -329.9 points or by -0.42 % and then NSE Nifty was at 24231.5 down by -95.15 points or by -0.39 %.

Sensex touched intraday high of 77647.44 and intraday low of 77248.69 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 24253.8 and intraday low of 24138.4

The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. (Rs. 1785.35,+3.03%), Asian Paints Ltd. (Rs. 2586.85,+2.27%), HCL Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 1196.60,+1.11%), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 1463.80,+1.08%), Infosys Ltd. (Rs. 1174.50,+1.03%), among others.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were HDFC Bank Ltd. (Rs. 783.90,-1.50%), UltraTech Cement Ltd. (Rs. 11969.10,-1.44%), Axis Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1273.70,-1.44%), Bajaj Finance Ltd. (Rs. 959.60,-1.33%), Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (Rs. 3984.50,-0.94%), among others.

IT index was at 28514.21 up by 267.3 points or by 0.95%. Quick Heal Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 195.00,+8.73%), Sonata Software Ltd. (Rs. 293.20,+8.17%), Onward Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 266.65,+7.07%), Ceinsys Tech Ltd. (Rs. 1051.15,+5.58%), Hexaware Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 483.30,+5.01%),.

Bankex index was at 62648.85 down by -450.18 points or by -0.71%. HDFC Bank Ltd. (Rs. 783.90,-1.50%), Axis Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1273.00,-1.50%), Federal Bank Ltd. (Rs. 293.35,-1.26%), Union Bank of India (Rs. 165.30,-1.17%), Punjab National Bank (Rs. 108.30,-0.78%),.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 4005 , shares advanced were 1994 while 1784 shares declined and 227 were unchanged.