A rising trend on the Bombay Stock Exchange was short-lived on Friday as the BSE benchmark Sensex shrugged off early gains to trade lower by 24 points at midsession on emergence of profit selling.

The 30-share Sensex, which gained 137.66 points early in the day, fell by 24.03 points to 9,544.69 at 1330 hours with heavy-weight ONGC, Infosys Technologies and Wipro facing fall on the bourses.

However, a firming trend in Reliance Industries and Reliance Petroleum saved the market from major fall by recording handsome gains after the company commissioned refinery in Jamnagar.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 5.30 point to 2,911.55 at the same time.