From correspondents in Maharashtra, India, 01:00 PM IST

The Indian equities markets were trading in the negative zone early Friday afternoon trade after the government announced that inflation had reached 8.24 percent.

At 12:15 p.m., the 30-share benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, was trading at 15,730.60 with a loss of 39.12 points or 0.25 percent from its closing figure Thursday. It had touched a high of 15,970.70 and a low of 15,702.29 points earlier in the day.

At the same time, the S and P Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was trading at 4,665.25 points with a loss of 11.20 points or 0.25 percent from its previous close.

However, the market breadth was positive. On BSE, 1,276 stocks advanced, 1,103 declined and 68 remained unchanged.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)