Indian equity markets were lower at the open on Friday, December 5, ahead of the key interest rate decision by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The MPC's three-day meeting is set to conclude today with a repo rate announcement scheduled at 10 AM.

At 9:25 hours, the 30-share benchmark index was trading at 85263.37 down by -1.95 points or by 0 % and then NSE Nifty was at 25999.8 down by -33.95 points or by -0.13 %.

Sensex touched intraday high of 85318.86 and intraday low of 85078.12 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 25999.8 and intraday low of 25999.8

The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were Eternal Ltd. (Rs. 298.85,+1.03%), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (Rs. 16115.35,+0.74%), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (Rs. 271.05,+0.71%), Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (Rs. 2147.00,+0.54%), Bajaj Finance Ltd. (Rs. 1033.95,+0.48%), among others.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (Rs. 2420.00,-1.71%), Reliance Industries Ltd. (Rs. 1526.95,-0.74%), Tata Steel Ltd. (Rs. 166.25,-0.30%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Rs. 1814.10,-0.25%), HDFC Bank Ltd. (Rs. 994.80,-0.25%), among others.

Realty index was at 6930.79 up by 18.29 points or by 0.26%. Prestige Estates Projects Ltd. (Rs. 1670.55,+0.81%), Oberoi Realty Ltd. (Rs. 1676.00,+0.71%), DLF Ltd. (Rs. 713.00,+0.53%), Anant Raj Ltd. (Rs. 542.70,+0.45%), Signatureglobal (India) Ltd. (Rs. 1118.75,+0.26%),.

HCS index was at 44343.16 down by -139.32 points or by -0.31%. Hikal Ltd. (Rs. 244.45,-3.36%), Vijaya Diagnostic Centre Ltd. (Rs. 1045.15,-3.11%), Dr. Lal Pathlabs Ltd. (Rs. 2993.90,-1.98%), SMS Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Rs. 317.55,-1.96%), Cohance Lifesciences Ltd. (Rs. 539.70,-1.71%),.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 2918 , shares advanced were 1346 while 1408 shares declined and 164 were unchanged.