Mumbai: Stock market benchmark indices fell in initial trade on Wednesday tracking weak global trends ahead of the release of minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The BSE Sensex fell by 329.12 points to 60,343.60 after a weak beginning. The NSE Nifty declined by 97.3 points to 17,729.40.
The BSE benchmark had edged down by 18.82 points or 0.03 percent to settle at 60,672.72 on Tuesday. The Nifty slipped by 17.90 points or 0.1 percent to end at 17,826.70. Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 525.80 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
From the Sensex pack, IndusInd Bank, Wipro, UltraTech Cement, Power Grid, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Technologies, Tata Motors, Infosys, NTPC and Bajaj Finance were the major laggards.
Maruti and Larsen & Toubro were the winners.
In Asian markets, South Korea, Japan, China and Hong Kong were trading lower.
The US markets had ended significantly lower on February 21.
"US stocks tumbled led by growing concerns that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for longer," said Mitul Shah, Head of Research Institutional Desk, Reliance Securities Ltd.
International oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.21 percent to USD 83.01 per barrel.
"The US macro data continues to dictate equity markets globally. The US markets reacted sharply negatively to the series of economic data indicating that the process of disinflation is slow and, therefore, the Fed will have to continue raising rates longer than expected earlier.
"This pushed up the 10-year bond yield sharply to 3.95 percent and stocks fell sharply. These negative US equity market trends are impacting equity markets everywhere and India cannot be an exception to this trend at least in the near-term," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
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