NEW DELHI: Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty opened in the green on Friday, tracking positive global cues, but soon pared gains to trade in the negative zone. Participants said uninspiring quarterly earnings, concerns of a slowdown in the economy and lingering liquidity crisis in the NBFC space remain an overhang for the market.

The Asian Development Bank has cut India’s growth forecast for the current financial year to 7 per cent from 7.2 per cent estimated earlier, as the fiscal 2018 outturn fell short.

Meanwhile, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman stuck to her budget proposals and declined to relent on the demand by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) structured as trusts that they be exempted from a higher surcharge.

In the July 5 budget, Sitharaman had proposed to increase the surcharge levied on top of the applicable income tax rate to 25 per cent from 15 per cent for those with taxable incomes between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore, and to 37 per cent for those earning more than Rs 5 crore.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 1,405 crore on Thursday, data available with NSE suggested.

DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 329 crore, data suggests. BSE benchmark Sensex was trading at 38,703 around 9.50 am, down 195 points or 0.50 per cent while Nifty50 was trading 65 points or 0.56 per cent lower at 11,532.

The market is awaiting quarterly numbers from Reliance Industries (RIL) later today.

The oil-to-telecom may deliver muted profit growth when it unveils June quarter earnings on Friday due to challenges in the refining and petchem segment.

However, telecom arm Jio and retail business may drive performance, analysts said.

ONGC, YES Bank, M-M, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp were among the top losers in the Sensex index. On the global front, Asian stocks gained and the dollar sagged after a top Federal Reserve official all but cemented expectations of a US interest rate cut later this month, Reuters reported.