Indices opened slightly higher on Friday led by technology shares, but slipped into the red within a few minutes. Weak cues from other Asian markets soured sentiment market participants said, adding that inflation data expected around noon will keep traders cautious.

At 10:05 am, the Bombay Stock Exchanges Sensex was up 21 points at 15,271.27. The index touched a high of 15,337.10 and low of 15,207.73 in early trade.

Major index gainers were Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 2.67%), ICICI Bank (2.61%), Tata Motors (1.51%), Tata Consultancy Services (1.29%) and Satyam Computer (0.87%)

Major index losers were Bharti Airtel (down 1.02%), DLF (0.9%), ONGC (0.87%), Hindustan Unilever (0.84%) and BHEL (0.72%)

The National Stock Exchanges Nifty was down 1 point at 4538.75. The index touched a high of 4563.35 and low of 4517.40 in trade so far.

Looking at the last 2-3 sessions, the market seems to have formed a short term bottom. Bu the rally can only extend till 4700-4750 in Nifty, said DD Sharma, senior vice president, AnandRathi.

The rupee was trading around 42.84 to the dollar, from the previous close of 42.83, while crude oil prices dipped slightly to $136.75 a barrel.

India's annual inflation rate is expected to have held above 8 per cent at the end of May.

The mood was somber elsewhere in Asia as investors worried about the credit-market turmoil, slowing global growth and rising inflation in the region. The Nikkei 225 was down 0.26 per cent, the Hang Seng fell 0.84 per cent and the Straits Times lost 0.47 per cent.

US stocks finished higher on Thursday as investors turned optimistic after data showed an uptick in May retail sales. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.48 per cent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.33 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.43 per cent.