Nifty below 8500, Sensex flat; ITC up 1%, SBI & Tata Steel fall

Moneycontrol Bureau9:35 am Maket check: The Sensex is down 20.99 points at 27689.53, and the Nifty down 11.30 points at 8498.80. About 825 shares have advanced, 640 shares declined, and 76 shares are unchanged. GAIL, Asain Piants, Tata Motors, ITC and M&M are top gainers in the Sensex.9:30 am Big voice: Billionaire investor Warren Buffett told CNBC on Thursday that companies should stop issuing earnings guidance because it can lead to "a lot of malpractice" and "bad results."The chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway appeared on "Squawk Box" to run down the ideas for reforming corporate governance that he and other powerful business and investment leaders discussed in a series of quiet meetings over the past year or so."[Earnings] guidance can lead to a lot of malpractice," Buffett said. "I've seen guidance produce some bad results."Don't miss: Axis Bank Q1 profit seen down 2%, credit cost may impact earnings

The market has opened flat on Friday. The Sensex is up 28.29 points or 0.1 percent at 27738.81 and the Nifty is up 9.55 points or 0.1 percent at 8519.65. About 286 shares have advanced, 121 shares declined, and 25 shares are unchanged.

ITC, Cipla, Adani Ports, BHEL and Sun Pharma are top gainers while TCS, ONGC, Infosys, NTPC and Wipro are losers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened flat at 67.18 per dollar on Friday versus previous close of 67.17.Yen held steady after appreciating over 1 percent overnight, dollar index pared some of its gains, slipped below 97 mark.

Bhaskar Panda of HDFC Bank said, "The USD-INR pair is boxed in a range for some time now and I expect similar behaviour going forward." According to him, support level of 67/dollar will hold and the trading range is seen between 67.10-67.50/dollar.

Asia markets opened lower, following losses in the US as oil prices weighed and the market consolidated ahead of next week's Fed meeting. The Nikkei 225 in Japan was down 0.93 percent, with stocks likely under pressure from a relatively stronger yen.

The Japanese yen strengthened against the dollar overnight, with the currency pair trading at 105.79 on Friday morning, compared to levels near 107.15 traded on Thursday afternoon local time and near 100 two weeks earlier.

Wall Street cooled off as disappointing quarterly reports from tech stalwart Intel and from transportation companies stalled momentum in a US corporate earnings season that has been better than feared.Yen held steady after appreciating over 1 percent overnight. Dollar index pared some of its gains, slipped below 97-mark. Crude prices fell more than 1 percent overnight, after a rise in US gasoline inventories.