The Sensex failed to retain initial gains and slipped marginally by 18 points on Thursday due to building up of mild selling pressure in refinery, teck, FMCG and IT stocks.

Telecom stocks dropped after the Telecom Commission on Wednesday recommended that all spectrum given to operators in the 900-MHz band should be refarmed to the 1,800-MHz band at the time of renewal of licences, beginning 2014.

The BSE 30-stock index, Sensex, resumed higher at 18,653.60 and moved up further to 18,667.02 on the back of higher Asian cues.

It declined afterwards to a low of 18,588.02, before quoting 18,592.70 at 1025 hrs.

It showed a nominal loss of 18.07 points or 0.10 per cent from its last close.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also eased by 6 points or 0.11 per cent to 5,654.25.

Major losers were Bharti Airtel (2.24 pc), Jindal Steel (1.78 pc), Sunpharma (0.92 pc), Wipro (0.75 pc) and Reliance Industries (0.74 pc).

However, Tata Power firmed up by 2.12 pc, Bajaj Auto 0.64 per cent, Dr Reddy 0.59 per cent and Tata Motors 0.59 per cent.

Asian stocks edged up in the early trade after the latest data showed growth rate in China’s industrial production and retail sales accelerated in September 2012.

Key indices in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea were up.