The BSE Sensex was trading higher by 3 points, at 9.20 am IST, while the Nifty was down by 2.75 points. Among the index shares that gained in early trade included ICICI Bank, Infosys Technologies and Sterlite Industries.

Index stocks that lost ground were Sun Pharma, Ranbaxy Laboratories and IDFC. Exide Industries was trading higher after the company won a 15 year old trademark suit against global battery giant Exide Technologies.

Metal stocks like Tata Steel and Jindal Steel recovered some ground after Wednesday's hammering and were trading mildly positive. Heavyweight Reliance Industries was trading flat at Rs 770.

Shares of MCX gained more than 1%, after reports that the company would start equity trading in the month of October 2012.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were trading mixed with the Japanese Nikkei and the Korean Kospi trading marginally up, while Taiwan Weighted and Hong Kong's Hang Sang was marginally lower.

All eyes are on the ECB meet this evening, which could decide the course of the market at least in the short term.

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