The benchmark BSE Sensex ended the session down by nearly 150 points as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of Infosys results tomorrow, while geopolitical concerns continued to weigh on the domestic sentiment.
Also, domestic investors turned wary ahead of release of industrial production (IIP) data for February and consumer price index (CPI) for March later today.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended lower by 144.87 points or 0.49 per cent at 29,643.48 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended down 33.55 points or 0.36 per cent at 9,203.45.
Barring realty and healthcare, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the negative zone. Among them, consumer durables index fell the most by 1.01 per cent, followed by power 0.97 per cent, infrastructure 0.81 per cent and metal 0.66 per cent, while realty index was up 0.81 per cent and healthcare 0.62 per cent.
Top five Sensex losers were Tata Steel (-2.12%), Adani Ports (-2.06%), Wipro (-1.76%), GAIL (-1.72%) and Tata Motors (-1.6%), while the major gainers were Sun Pharma (+1.83%), Hero MotoCorp (+0.77%), Lupin (+0.74%), Bajaj Auto (+0.55%) and Dr Reddy's (+0.48%).
Corporate results eyed
After hitting a record high of 9,273.90 points last week, the broader NSE index has fallen about 0.9 per cent as investors wait for corporate results, with Infosys Ltd due to report on Thursday.
Global markets have also been under pressure over North Korea and Syria tensions, further sapping sentiment.
“Infosys results will start giving indication of market behaviour. I think for this quarter, market will remain slightly under pressure,” said RK Gupta, managing director, Taurus Asset Management Company, adding that geopolitical concerns also had an impact.
Global markets
Investors ducked for cover as a drumbeat of alarming geopolitical news sent the safe-haven yen and gold to five-month highs and yields on top-rated sovereign bonds to their lowest for the year so far.
North Korea had warned on Tuesday of a nuclear attack on the United States at any sign of aggression, as a US Navy strike group steamed toward the Korean peninsula - a force President Donald Trump described as an “armada".
At the same time, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Moscow to denounce Russian support for Syria's Bashar al-Assad, raising the stakes in West Asia.