Indian equities slipped further into the negative zone on the back of heavy selling pressure witnessed in some of the frontliners.

Realty and metal stocks went up, whereas IT and consumer durables stocks led the declines.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index gained mire than 1 percent each.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE Realty zoomed 2.44%, Metal gained 1.25%, while BSE IT declined 3.81%, Consumer Durables lost more than 2.75%.

The 30-share index, BSE Sensex started the day with a gain of 24.42 points, at 9,679.32.

Indian Markets opened flat on Thursday. NSE Nifty was down by 3 points at 2926. BSE Sensex was marginally up at 10.07 a.m. IST. Volatility may be higher in days to come and markets will depend largely on International cues.

Reliance Communications was trading strong. The stock was up by nearly 8.8%. At NSE Reliance Communications touched an intraday high of Rs 249.55 and a low of Rs 232 during the early trading session.

Among major gainers were ICICI Bank (up by 2.7%), Sterlite (up by 4%), Zee Entertainment (up by 3.5%) and HDFC Bank (up by 2%).

Major losers included Technology stocks, Wipro, TCS, Satyam, Siemens.

Tokyo  - Japan's Nikkei index slid in early trading Thursday as rising commodity prices dimmed earnings prospects of Japanese companies, while the Topix index gained some ground.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average was down 68.97 points, or 0.79 per cent, at mid-trading, also driven down by emerging opposition in the US Senate to the rescue deal for US carmakers.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues rose 1.98 points, or 0.24 per cent to 836.53.

New York  - US stocks gained Wednesday as energy and metal prices rose, despite worries about the fate of a proposed 14-billion- dollar bail-out for carmakers.

Energy shares led the rally on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index as oil future for January delivery rose 3.4 per cent to 43.52 dollars per barrel, Bloomberg financial news reported. While US aluminium giant Alcoa Inc picked up the most of any stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, gaining 6.8 per cent.

Indian stock markets continued to trade positively on account of heavy buying action witnessed in realty, metal and oil & gas stocks.

Moreover, capital goods, power, telecom and information technology stocks have also posted sharp gains.

Banking, auto stocks have recovered sharply after remaining subdued for a short time. Pharma and consumer durables stocks have also went up.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index gained 1.12% and 0.80% respectively.

The 30-share index, BSE Sensex today, (Dec 10, 2008), opened with a gain of 153.78 points at 9,316.40.

Indian Stock markets have opened strong on Wednesday. NSE Nifty was trading 44 points higher at 2828 while BSE Sensex was up by 136 points at 9298. Tata Communications was among major gainers in todays trade. The stock was trading up by 7% followed by Sterlite, SAIL, DLF and Reliance Communications.

Tata Steel gained further ground. The stock was trading Rs 7 higher at 203. Reliance Industries was also helping BSE Sensex. The stock was up by Rs 27.

Among other gainers were Grasim, Wipro, Reliance Infra, GAIL, ICICI Bank, ABB, Satyam Computers, NALCO, Unitech, Suzlon Energy, HCL Tech, Ranbaxy Labs, Cipla, NTPC and Reliance Petro.