NEW DELHI: Equity benchmarks Nifty50 and Sensex were trading in the negative territory in Thursday's early trade.

Weak Asian cues and selling in IT, FMCG and private bank stocks kept the bourses under pressure. Investors appeared cautious ahead of October derivatives contracts expiry today.

The Nifty50 index was trading 16 points lower at 10,280, while the 30-share Sensex was 108 points down at 32,934 around 10.45 am (IST).

Shares of Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 3.32 per cent), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (up 2.82 per cent), YES Bank (up 2.58 per cent), Larsen & Toubro (up 2.47 per cent), Indian Oil Corporation (up 2.11 per cent), Cipla (up 1.71 per cent), GAIL (up 1.47 per cent), Kotak Bank (up 1.42 per cent), Coal India Ltd (up 1.25 per cent) and Bajaj Finance (up 1.20 per cent) were among the top gainers in the Nifty50 index.

However, Indiabulls Housing Finance (down 3.61 per cent), HCL Tech (down 3.41 per cent), PowerGrid (down 2.24 per cent), ICICI Bank (down 2.19 per cent), HDFC (down 2.07 per cent) and Bharti Infratel (down 1.35 per cent) were the top losers among the Nifty stocks.

In the Nifty50 pack, 27 stocks were trading in the green, while 23 stocks were in the red.

Nearly 50 stocks, including Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and Bharat Forge hit fresh 52-week highs on NSE in Thursday's trade, defying the bearish market temperament.