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After a flat opening, benchmark indices have edged lower in morning trades on account of weakness in L&T, HUL and Tata Motors.
At 1000 hrs, the Sensex was down 51 points at 25,940 and the Nifty gave off 18 points to trade at 7,730.
The broader markets were weak and underperformed the benchmark indices. Both the mid and smallcap indices were down 0.3% each.
Sectors & Stocks
On the sectoral front, Capital Goods index was the top loser down 4% along with Realty and Metal indices down 0.4% each.
A 6% cut on L&T dragged the capital goods index lower as the performance of engineering and construction major’s core business in the June quarter disappointed the Street, as execution remained weak in the domestic business.
Apart from L&T, Sesa Sterlite, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Steel, BHEL, Maruti Suzuki and Sun Pharma were some of the notable names in red, down 0.2-2%.
Among the gainers was Bharti Airtel up 4% after reporting 61% year-on-year jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,108 crore for the first quarter.
Auto majors Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Auto gained 0.7-2%.
Cipla, Gail India, ONGC, Dr Reddys Lab were some of the other gainers.
The market breadth was marginally in green. 730 stocks advanced while 721 stocks declined on BSE.
Global Markets
Asian shares were subdued while the dollar held steady near an eight-month high against the euro on Wednesday, as investors awaited key U.S. data as well as a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting that some believe might result in a more hawkish policy outlook.
The Fed's two-day policy meeting will conclude later in the session with central bank officials issuing the policy statement at 2 p.m. (18:00 GMT). The Fed will not be updating its economic forecasts and Chair Janet Yellen will not hold a press conference, keeping investors' focus squarely on the statement.
Data released early on Wednesday showed Japan's industrial output fell 3.3% in June as companies curbed production due to a pile-up in inventories, but manufacturers expect output to rise in the coming months.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was slightly lower in early trade, while Japan's Nikkei stock average edged down about 0.1%.
Overnight, stocks fell on Tuesday, dropping in a broad selloff as a weak outlook from courier company UPS weighed on sentiment and pressured transportation stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.41%, to 16,912, the S&P 500 lost 0.45%, to 1,970, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.05%, to 4,443.
