New Delhi, Mar 24 (IANS): India's key equity indices -- Sensex and Nifty -- opened on a negative note on Thursday.

The indices extended their losses from the previous session.

At 9.24 a.m., Sensex was 0.5 per cent or 289 points down at 57,395 points, whereas Nifty was 0.4 per cent or 74 points down at 17,172 points.

"The market now lacks direction and is moving up or down on a daily basis responding to the news regarding crude price, FPI flows and speculation on what the Fed might do in the coming policy meeting," said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Nifty is likely to move in the 17,000 - 17,500 range in the short run, Vijayakumar said.

"Safety is now in IT and pharma which are insulated from high crude prices and high inflation," he added.

Among the individual stocks, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, Titan, ICICI Bank, and HDFC were the top five losers during the opening session, declining 3.3 per cent, 1.5 per cent, 1.5 per cent, 1.5 per cent, and 0.8 per cent, respectively.

On the other hand, Coal India, Hindalco, Dr Reddy's, ITC, and ONGC were the top gainers in early trade, NSE data showed.