Indian equity benchmarks fell in Wednesday's early trade, dragged by bank, financial and information technology (IT) stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack dropped 123 points or 0.18 per cent to trade at 69,428, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 24 points or 0.11 per cent down to trade at 20,882. Although, mid- and small-cap shares were positive as Nifty Midcap 100 edged 0.02 per cent up and small-cap climbed 0.15 per cent. India VIX, fear index, rose 0.53 per cent to 12.78-level.
Asian markets were mostly trading lower today. Overnight, Wall Street equities closed higher. Investors now await US Federal Reserve's policy decision, scheduled to be released 12:30 am on Thursday.
Back home, retail inflation in November rose at its fastest pace in three months at 5.55 per cent due to higher food prices.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Rs 76.86 crore worth of shares on a net basis during the previous session and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased Rs 1,923.32 crore worth of shares, exchange data showed.
Eight out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty IT were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 0.25 per cent, 0.26 per cent and 0.72 per cent, respectively. On the flip side, Nifty Auto and Nifty FMCG rose 0.32 per cent and 0.34 per cent.
On the stock-specific front, Infosys was the top loser in the Nifty pack as the stock cracked 1.31 per cent to trade at Rs 1,456.75. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), ONGC, HDFC Life and Axis Bank fell up to 1.09 per cent.
In contrast, Eicher Motors, NTPC, BPCL, ITC and Hero MotoCorp were among the top gainers.
On the 30-share BSE index, HDFC Bank, Infosys, TCS, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the top laggards.
Also, Bank of India, Adani Total Gas, Sonata Software, Suntech Realty and Paytm slumped up to 5.57 per cent. On the other hand, Vaibhav Global, PFC, Tanla Platforms, Equitas Small Finance Bank, Motilal Oswal Financial Services and Chalet Hotels and KPIT Tech jumped up to 6.97 per cent.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,852 shares were advancing while 1,080 were declining on BSE.
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