Equities slipped in the negative territory on Thursday taking cues from weak global markets. Realty, banks and IT led the decline while auto and FMCG showed some strength.

At 9:25 am, Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex was at 17916.59, down 60.64 points or 0.34 per cent. The index touched intraday high of 17978.37 and low of 17916.59.

National Stock Exchange's Nifty was at 5386.45, down 12.90 points or 0.24 per cent. The index touched a high of 5399.40 and low of 5373.95 in trade so far.

"We expect a sluggish opening for India. As usual, the end will hinge on few earnings and global cues. It has been a long consolidation phase for our markets and the same may persist for some time to come. Try churning your portfolio to beat this listless trend. A new, secular bull run may take a while to materialize. Till that happens, there is no escape from the current sideways pattern," said IIFL report.

BSE Midcap Index was up 0.15 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 0.10 per cent higher.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Realty Index moved down 0.89 per cent, BSE Bankex declined 0.62 per cent and BSE IT Index slipped 0.51 per cent.

M&M (1.31%), Wipro (0.75%), ACC (0.72%), Cipla (0.66%) and Jaiprakash Associates (0.43%) were the top Sensex gainers.

ICICI Bank (-0.93%), Reliance Communications (-0.80%), Tata Power (-0.67%), TCS (-0.66%) and DLF (-0.65%) were the only index losers.

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 604 advances against 582 declines.

Meanwhile, the Asian markets were mostly in the red. Nikkei 225 was down 0.99 per cent, Taiwan Weighted slipped 0.25 per cent and Seoul Composite declined 0.60 per cent.