Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty cut short their four-day gaining streak and closed lower by half a per cent on Wednesday due to profit-taking in banking, energy and metal stocks amid weak trends in global markets.

Snapping its four-day rally, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 346.89 points or 0.55 per cent to settle at 62,622.24. During the day, it tumbled 568.11 points or 0.90 per cent to 62,401.02.

The NSE Nifty declined 99.45 points or 0.53 per cent to end at 18,534.40.

In the four-day rally to Tuesday, Sensex advanced by 1,195 points or 2 per cent while Nifty rose by 348 points or 2.26 per cent.

"Markets witnessed profit-taking and shed over half a per cent, tracking mixed cues. After the initial downtick, the Nifty index traded with a negative bias for most of the session however a marginal rebound in the final hours trimmed some losses," said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

Global headwinds, especially from the US markets, are causing intermediate volatility however the positional up trend is still intact, Mishra said.

From the Sensex pack, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries, HDFC, HDFC Bank, NTPC, Tata Steel and UltraTech Cement were the major laggards on Wednesday.

Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Tata Motors and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the gainers.

"As indicated by multiple economic data points, the Indian economy is presently experiencing a robust recovery, leading to an upward trend in domestic equity markets. However, the rally is being hindered at times due to negative signals from global peers, as observed today.

"Concerns about a recession and potential interest rate hikes in western markets are impacting the domestic market but it is nevertheless maintaining the outperformance," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The broader market however gained, with the BSE smallcap gauge jumping 0.68 per cent and midcap index climbing 0.54 per cent.

Among the indices, energy fell 1.20 per cent, metal (1.16 per cent), oil & gas (1.04 per cent), utilities (1 per cent) and financial services (0.68 per cent).

Telecommunication jumped 2.15 per cent, realty (0.73 per cent), consumer durables (0.73 per cent), teck (0.72 per cent), healthcare (0.64 per cent) and industrials (0.53 per cent).

"Profit-taking was overdue for some time and investors offloaded their holdings in metal and energy stocks on the back of weak Asian and European market cues," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

Meanwhile, official data released on Wednesday showed that the fiscal deficit for 2022-23 was 6.4 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), as was projected by the finance ministry in the revised budget estimates.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower.

European equity markets were trading in negative territory. The US markets ended on a mixed note on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.33 per cent to USD 72.53 a barrel.

Investors will also keep an eye on the Q4 GDP numbers to be announced later on Wednesday, which will provide some sense on where the economy is headed in the near to medium term, Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Tuesday as they bought equities worth ₹2,085.62 crore, according to exchange data.

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