Mumbai, May 17 (IANS): India equity indices were in red on Friday following muted global cues.

At 9:45 a.m., Sensex was down 166 points or 0.23 per cent, at 73,497 points and Nifty was down 45 points or 0.21 per cent, at 22,353 points.

Midcap and smallcap indices outperform benchmarks. The Nifty midcap index was up 204 points or 0.40 per cent, at 51,357 points and the Nifty smallcap was up 151 points or 0.87 per cent, at 16,747 points.

India Vix was down 0.85 per cent at 20.17 points.

Among the sector indices, Auto, PSU Bank, Metal, Realty, Media, Energy, Infra, and Oil&Gas were major gainers. IT, FMCG, Pharma, Fin services, and Pvt banks were major losers.

In Sensex, 22 out of 30 shares opened in the red and 8 shares in green.

M&M is the top gainer and jumps over 6 per cent. Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Power Grid, and SBI were other major gainers. Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Reliance, Sun Pharma, and HUL were major losers.

As per the market experts, the net institutional buying turning positive while the sharp recovery of nearly 350 points from the lows in Nifty and the large short position in the market have the potential to aid recovery in the market. Going forward, news from the political front is likely to turn more positive.

They said that the FII-heavy stocks which bore the brunt of selling are likely to witness further recovery.