Sensex, Nifty Edge Lower; RIL, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank Top Losers

The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Tuesday dragged by losses in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Hindustan Unilever and Kotak Mahindra Bank amid weak global cues. The Sensex fell as much as 221 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 17,173.

As of 9:31 am, the Sensex was down 157 points at 57,834 and Nifty 50 index declined 47 points to 17,194.

Most of the Asian markets were trading lower with Japan's Nikkei down 2.5 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.37 per cent, Taiwan Weighted fell 3.6 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI declined 2.43 per cent

Wall Street added to its recent string of losses Monday, as stocks fell ahead of a busy week of inflation updates and the start of corporate earnings reporting season.

The S&P 500 fell 0.7 per cent, extending its losing streak to a fourth day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3 per cent after wavering between small gains and losses, and the Nasdaq composite fell 1 per cent. The Dow and Nasdaq have also closed lower the past four trading days.

Small company stocks also fell, dragging the Russell 2000 index 0.6 per cent lower. U.S. bond trading was closed.

Major indexes are coming off a volatile week where they notched out gains because of an early two-day rally that shielded stocks from several weak days.

Wall Street has been turbulent amid worries about stubbornly hot inflation and the Federal Reserve’s plan to tame high prices by raising interest rates. The goal is to slow economic growth and cool both borrowing and spending in order to get inflation under control, but the plan risks sending the economy into a recession.

Back home, selling pressure was broad-based as all the 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Auto index's nearly 1 per cent decline. Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Metal, Pharma, PSU Bank, Healthcare and Oil & Gas indices also fell around 1 per cent each.

Mid- and small-cap shares were largely trading on a flat note as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.3 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index was little changed.

Divi's Labs was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 2.4 per cent to Rs 3,597. Eicher Motors, ONGC, Apollo Hospitals, JSW Steel, Dr Reddy's Labs, Maruti Suzuki, SBI Life, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel, UPL and Titan also fell between 1-2 per cent.

On the flipside, Infosys was among top Nifty gainer, after the company announced that it will consider a share buyback proposal on October 13. Adani Enterprises, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, Adani Ports, ITC, Ultratech Cement and Axis Bank were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,549 shares were advancing while 1,363 were declining on the BSE.