MUMBAI: Benchmark equity indices declined in early trade on Wednesday amid weak global market trends and continuous foreign fund outflows.
Caution also prevailed in the markets ahead of the major events -- RBI's monetary policy and the US inflation data -- due to be announced on Thursday.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 158.2 points to 65,688.30, extending its previous day's weak trend. The NSE Nifty slipped 30.75 points to 19,540.10.
From the Sensex pack, ICICI Bank, Maruti, HCL Technologies, Hindustan Unilever, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries and IndusInd Bank were the major laggards.
Mahindra & Mahindra, JSW Steel, Titan, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors and Tech Mahindra were among the gainers.
In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong traded lower while Seoul quoted in the green. The US markets ended in negative territory on Tuesday.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 711.34 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data. Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.22 per cent to USD 85.98 a barrel.
"While local markets have been range-bound in recent trades, FII selling in recent sessions has led to caution amongst the investors. Also, traders don't want to take any chances ahead of the RBI's credit policy on Thursday," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.
The BSE benchmark fell 106.98 points or 0.16 per cent to settle at 65,846.50 on Tuesday. The Nifty slipped 26.45 points or 0.13 per cent to end at 19,570.85.