Globally, sentiments were dampened after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the Fed will have to assess conditions before it decides to undertake further monetary easing as the deepening debt turmoil in Europe and the fiscal cliff challenges raise the downside risks to US economic outlook.

At 9.35 am IST, the Sensex was trading at 16,541 points, lower by 113 points and the Nifty was at 5,012 points, lower 36 points.

On sectoral front, all the sectors were in red except Consumer Goods and FMCG in morning trade.

On Thursday, domestic benchmark rallied, a firm rupee, and hopes of rate cute boosted the market sentiment.

The gainers in morning trade were GAIL, Ambuja Cements, Ranbaxy Laboratories and Tata Steel.

Stocks that failed to lure investors in early trade were Cairn India, Sesa Goa, Jaiprakash Associates and IDFC.

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