Mumbai: After three straight days of rally, the Indian equity markets benchmark Sensex slipped nearly 400 points on Friday due to selling pressure in banking and financial, power and auto stocks.

The 30 stock S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange opened on a positive note but slipped in the red in the early morning trade. At around 11.30 am the Sensex was trading at 56,918.35 points, 0.69 per cent or 396.93 points lower from its previous day close at 57,315.28 points.

Earlier the Sensex opened in the positive at 57,567.11 points and touched a high of 57,623.69 points. Soon the markets turned negative and the Sensex slipped below 57,000-points mark. It touched a low of 56,813.42 points.

The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange was trading at 16,935 points, 0.81 per cent or 137.60 points lower from its previous day close at 17,072.60 points. The Nifty touched a high of 17,155.60 points and a low of 16,909.60 points in the intra-day.

Heavy selling pressure was witnessed in banking & financial, power, metal and auto stocks.

Kotak Bank slumped 2.38 per cent to Rs.1733.80. NTPC slipped 2.33 per cent to Rs.121.70. Bajaj Finserv 1.95 per cent down at Rs.15846.30; IndusInd Bank1.89 per cent down at Rs.854.70; Axis Bank 1.84 per cent down at Rs.665.80; Mahindra & Mahindra 1.68 per cent down at Rs.812.80 and State Bank of India 1.57 per cent down at Rs.454.70 were among the major Sensex losers.

Only six of the 30 scrips that are part of the Sensex were trading in the positive. HCL Technologies jumped 2.02 per cent to Rs.1252.10. Tech Mahindra 0.99 per cent higher at Rs.1700.35; ITC 0.64 per cent higher at Rs.218.70; Nestle India 0.57 per cent higher at Rs.19315.90 and Asian Paints 0.45 per cent higher at Rs.3281.75 were among the major Sensex gainers.