MUMBAI: The Sensex and Nifty started the trade on a muted note on Wednesday and slipped in the negative territory after a two-day breather, following weak trends in Asian markets.
Unabated foreign fund outflows also played spoilsport for the markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 418.07 points lower at 52,114. The NSE Nifty fell 131.1 points to 15,507.70.
From the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra and Bharti Airtel were the major laggards in early trade.
On the other hand, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Maruti Suzuki India and Hindustan Unilever were the gainers. Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo were quoting lower.
The US markets recorded smart gains on Tuesday. "Pull back rallies can be sharp and it was sharp yesterday. The important question is -- will this continue? There is no economic news, except the softness in crude, to sustain the rally. There is no reason for FIIs to change their selling strategy since the dollar continues to be strong and US bond yields are attractive and expected to rise further," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
The BSE Sensex zoomed 934.23 points or 1.81 per cent to settle at 52,532.07 on Tuesday. The NSE Nifty climbed 288.65 points or 1.88 per cent to finish at 15,638.80. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude tumbled 3.20 per cent to USD 110.98 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 2,701.21 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.