The frontline Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade slightly lower in the afternoon trade, as weakness in IT bellwether Infosys is still weighing on the investors psyche. The better-than-expected data on IIP and CPI did briefly help the main stock indices to recover from the day's lows struck in the morning trade.

At 12:56pm (IST), the BSE Sensex was trading at 18699 down 104 points over the previous close. It had earlier touched a day's high of 18844 and a day's low of 18677. It opened at 18727.

The NSE Nifty was quoting at 5,681, down 28 points over the previous close. It earlier touched a day’s high of 5,725 and a day’s low of 5659. It opened at 5,663.

RIL, Coal India, ONGC,BHEL, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Tata Steel, Tata Power, Gail India, ITC are among gainers in Sensex and Nifty.

Infosys, Wipro, TCS,. ICICI Bank, L&T, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC are among losers in Sensex and Nifty.

The BSE Small-Cap index and BSE Mid- Cap index was trading up at 1%.

Oil and Gas ,Realty,Metal,  HC, FMCG,Consumer Durables Teck, Metal, PSU,  are the gainers.

Teck, IT, Auto, Power, Bankex, and Capital Goods indices are the losers.

What is heartening is the broader market indices continue to see positive action, leading to a favourable market breadth. The advance-decline ratio in the two main indices too is positive, barring the weakness in Infosys and Wipro.

In terms of sectoral plays, the IT index remains the biggest laggard followed by minor losses in Capital Goods and Auto indices. Consumer Durables, Pharma, Metals and Realty indices are the noteworthy gainers.

Asian markets closed mixed, with indices in China, South Korea, Australia and Hong Kong closing higher while those in Japan ended lower.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was poised for its biggest weekly drop since August after the IMF cut its global growth forecasts and warned of a steeper slowdown unless the US and Europe address risks to their economies.

Singapore’s dollar rose after the central bank unexpectedly maintained its policy stance of a modest and gradual appreciation of the currency even as the economy contracted in the three months through September.

Separately, Japan’s government has cut its assessment of the nation’s economy for a third straight month, the longest streak since the 2009 global recession.

“The economic recovery is in a weak tone recently due to deceleration of the world economy,” the Cabinet Office said in its monthly report for October released in Tokyo today.

Separately, reports say that China’s biggest banks are resisting government pressure to lower borrowing costs amid deeper-than-anticipated economic slowdown as they seek to maintain the profitability of their lending operations.

India's industrial production grew by 2.7% for the month of August 2012 over the corresponding month of the previous year, the Government said on Friday. Data compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that industrial production in August last year expanded by 3.4%

The monthly growth rates of the three sectors that constitute the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) - Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity - for the month stood at 2.0%, 2.9% and 1.9%, respectively.

The Government today revised lower the IIP growth rate for July to (-)0.2% from the provisional estimate of 0.1%

Meanwhile, provisional annual inflation rate based on all-India general CPI (combined) for September 2012 on a point-to-point basis stood at 9.73%. The corresponding provisional inflation rates for Rural and Urban areas stood at 9.79% and 9.72%, respectively.

Shares of Bajaj Hindusthan, Balrampur Chini, Dhampur Sugar and Shree Renuka gained on Friday after a government panel recommended scrapping of state control on the marketing of sugar in the country.

The committee, headed by Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) C. Rangarajan, also suggests doing away with levy sugar obligation for mills.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi today Rangarajan said that the Government should buy sugar from the market for sale to the poor.

European stock indices fell today at start, with oil firms and drug makers on the decline.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index dropped 0.2%.

The main indices in Germany, UK and France are down marginally.

The Government seems to have a strategy in place. That explains why Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has played down S&P’s threat of a possible downgrade of India’s ratings. He has in face promised more reforms in the period leading up to the next Lok Sabha election. Talking of election, there are murmurs of the 2014 polls getting advanced, although there is no certainty of the same.

Meanwhile, Indian stocks regained their footing on Thursday, recovering from the previous session when S&P’s warning mildly rattled the sentiment. The opening today was bad thanks to Poor numbers from IT giant Infosys. HDFC Bank is also announcing its results today.

US markets close mixed on Thursday as concerns about corporate earnings and the European fiscal mess overshadowed encouraging data on weekly jobless claims. European markets ended higher amid mounting speculation that Spain will sooner or later go for a full-fledged bailout.

The Nifty rebounded on Thursday from the support of 5630, underscoring strength in the earlier horizontal breakout line. Indian equities have been outperforming global peers lately as a raft of reforms have attracted strong FII inflows. The Nifty may retest intermediate peak of 5800 in the near term.

Key Results Today: Infosys, HDFC Bank, Polaris Fin Tec, TTK Prestige.

Trend in FII Flows: The FIIs were net buyers of Rs 10.43bn in the cash segment on Thursday while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers of Rs 5.73bn, as per the provisional figures released by the NSE.

The FIIs were net sellers of Rs 6.28bn in the F&O segment on Thursday, according to the provisional NSE data.

The foreign funds were net buyers of Rs 4.16bn in the cash segment on Wednesday while the Mutual Funds were net sellers of Rs 3.05bn, according to the SEBI figures.

Global Data Watch today: IMF Meeting, Spanish National Day, Japan BOJ's Governor Shirakawa Speech, France Current Account (Aug), Italy Consumer Price Index (Sep), UK Conference Board Leading Economic Index (Sep), EU Industrial Production (Aug), US Producer Price Index  (Sep), US Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (Oct), US Fed’s Lacker Speech and US Monthly Budget Statement (Sep).