Mumbai, Jul 24 (IANS): India's frontline indices opened in the red on Wednesday as heavyweights like HUL and Bajaj Finance emerged as top losers.

At 9:52 a.m., Sensex was down 280 points or 0.35 per cent, at 80,174 and Nifty was down 72 points or 0.30 per cent.

Buying is seen in the broader market. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1712 shares are in the green and 477 shares are in the red.

Midcap and smallcap stocks are performing better compared to largecaps. Nifty midcap 100 index is up 384 points or 0.68 per cent, at 56,669 and Nifty smallcap 100 index is up 248 points or 1.35 per cent, at 18,649.

Among the sectoral indices, IT, PSU Bank, Fin service, pharma, metal and media are major gainers. Auto and realty are major laggards.

ITC, Titan, Tata Motors, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Kotak Mahindra, Tata Steel, SBI, Asian Paints and ICICI Bank are the top gainers in the Sensex pack. HUL, Bajaj Finance, Nestle, UltraTech Cement, HCL Tech and M&M are the top losers.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net sellers on July 23 as they sold equities worth Rs 2975 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1418 crore on the same day.

Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, said, "Nifty can find support at 24,400 followed by 24,350 and 24,300. On the higher side, 24,550 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 24,650 and 24,700."

Most of the Asian markets are trading in a decline. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Bangkok and Seoul are in the red. Only the Shanghai market is bullish. The US markets had closed with a decline on Tuesday.