Mumbai, May 30 (IANS): Indian equity indices opened in the red on Thursday following muted global cues.

At 9:50 a.m., Sensex was at 74,188, down 314 points or 0.42 per cent and Nifty was at 22,605, down 99 points or 0.41 per cent.

The banking index is outperforming the benchmarks. Nifty Bank is up 255 points or 0.53 per cent, at 48,751.

Among the other indices, PSU Bank, Fin Service, and Media are major gainers. Auto, IT, Pharma, Metal, Energy and Infra are major losers.

The Indian volatility index (India VIX) is up 0.50 per cent at 24.30 points.

Twenty-three out of the 30 Sensex stocks are trading in the red.

Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Power Grid, Nestle, Titan, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance and Wipro are the top losers, whereas, Axis Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are the top gainers.

Almost all the markets in Asia are trading with a decline. American markets closed in the red on Wednesday. The Dow had slipped more than one per cent. The dollar index remains at 105.

Crude oil remains flat -- Brent crude at $79 per barrel and WTI crude at $83 per barrel.

Vaishali Parekh, Vice President - Technical Research, Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd, said: "Nifty ended on the losing side once again for the last 3 consecutive sessions ending near the 22700 zone with bias turning weak and has the next crucial support zone maintained near 22500 zone which needs to be sustained as of now."

"For the bias to improve, a decisive breach above the 22800 level is important to carry on with the upward move and thereafter, anticipate retesting the previous peak zone of 23100 levels," she added.