BENGALURU: Indian stocks opened marginally lower on Friday, after the benchmarks closed at record highs in the previous session, with investors digesting conflicting signals from global central banks on the interest rate environment.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex opened down 0.18% to 62,164.65, while the NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.14% to 18,459.00.

The European Central Bank’s equivalent of Federal Reserve rate-setting committee’s minutes that came out on Thursday showed that the room for slowing down the pace of interest rate adjustments remained limited, in contrast to the U.S. central bank’s assessment.

Nifty IT index lost 0.4%, with seven of the 10 constituents falling in today’s session. The index had gained more than 2.6% and was the top sectoral gainer on Thursday.

Indian shares hit new highs on boost from IT, banks

Nifty Bank index jumped to fresh record of 43,192.90 in early trade, while public sector bank index rose 0.85%, extending its rally for ninth day in a row.

The Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty SmallCap 100 indexes outperformed larger peers, rising 0.33% and 0.47%, respectively.

Asian markets were mixed, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index losing 0.30% as rising COVID-19 infections in China dimmed hopes of reopening of the world’s second largest economy.

U.S. markets were shut for thanksgiving on Thursday, while the dollar slid towards a three-month low.