Sensex, Nifty open amidst volatility; tech stocks drag

The market on Wednesday opened with the equity benchmarks posting fall in the Sensex with 17.30 points to 24866.29.

On the other hand, the Nifty declined 7.50 points to 7595.70. However, the market breadth was positive as about 736 shares advanced against 510 declining shares on BSE.

Shares such as ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Lupin, Mahindra and Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, gained 1-2 percent, whereas Wipro, HDFC, Cipla and NTPC were amongst losers.

The Indian rupee marginally bounced back in early trade after a fall in previous session. The currency opened at 66.42 a dollar, up four paise compared to 66.46 a dollar on Tuesday.

US dollar touched 17-month low against the yen on back on growing concerns over the global growth.

The breadth in the Asian markets was mixed with the Shanghai and Hang Seng trading flat with a positive bias. US oil prices bounced back after hitting March 4 lows, up 2.7 percent at USD 36.89 a barrel. Brent rose 1.7 percent to USD 38.52 a barrel.