Equity benchmarks opened lower, let down by metal, IT and infra stocks. The gap-down was expected as global cues have been weak. Asian stock markets were swinging between gains and losses amid concerns that shares have risen too fast. US stocks closed lower on Tuesday in a quiet trade, but the Dow managed sixth straight day of record-high closings.

Back home, a few FMCG and pharma stocks look supportive in the morning. The midcap index has started off in the red, signaling a deeper damage-game was lurking in the corner. Midcap banks were seen struggling, although some of the road stocks were up marginally. PTC financial stood out in the morning trade with 7 percent gains. Jet Airways was also up, gaining around 10 percent in the last few trading sessions.

At 09.36 AM, the Sensex fell 109.88 points at 19455.04, and the Nifty slipped 35.75 points or 0.60% at 5878.35. In the pharma space, Sun Pharma and Ranbaxy were top movers on the indices, trading with sub 1 percent gains. Other gainers include Tata Power, HUL, ITC and Power Grid.

Banking space remained a sore point with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank trading with over 1 percent cuts. SBI was down 0.43 percent. Indian rupee opened at 54.14 against the US dollar, and appears steady a day before the inflation numbers are expected to come out. The currency had appreciated by 23 paise on Tuesday to end at nearly two-week high of 54.18 on dollar selling.

GLOBAL MARKETS ROUNDUP

Investors growing wary of recent index highs and mixed signals from global equities overnight capped Asian share prices on Wednesday, while sterling remained vulnerable after weak U.K. data fed fears of a triple-dip recession.

The yen’s selloff paused on Wednesday but expectations of radical policy easing from the Bank of Japan meant further weakness was more than likely, while dour UK manufacturing data consigned sterling to the dog house.

Brent crude prices fell for a third straight session in choppy trading on Tuesday, while U.S. oil posted a fourth consecutive gain, tightening the spread between the two contracts to the narrowest since January. U.S. Treasury debt prices rose on Tuesday as a recent spike in yields lured investors and as U.S. government debt tracked other safe-haven markets higher.