Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Tuesday began trade on a bearish note amid weak global market trends and rising crude prices, a day ahead of the RBI MPC.
At 10.30 am, the BSE Sensex tumbled 260 points to 62,573, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 72 points to 18,628.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Tata Steel, HCL, Dr Reddy, Infosys, Sun Pharma, TechM, TCS, and Bharti Airtel were the major laggards. On the flip side, HUL, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Hindustan Unilever, NTPC, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv were among the winners.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap was down 0.16 per cent while the SmallCap index was flat.
Within sectors, Nifty IT slipped the most with a loss of 0.9 per cent, followed by the metal index, while the PSB pocket was the sole winner, up 0.8 per cent.
Among stocks, IRB Infrastructure Developers rose over 3 per cent after its yearly toll collections came 39 per cent higher at Rs 366 crore.
Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong traded lower, while Tokyo quoted in the green. Wall Street had ended in the negative territory on Monday.
In the previous session on Monday, the BSE benchmark dipped 34 points (0.05 per cent) to settle at 62,835. The Nifty had eked out marginal gains and ended 5 points (0.03 per cent) higher at 18,701.
International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.57 per cent higher at $83.15 per barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 1,139.07 crore on Monday, as per exchange data.
Meanwhile, the rupee declined 24 paise to 82.09 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday as heavy selling pressure in domestic equities and rising crude prices overseas weighed on investor sentiment.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened weak at 81.94 against the dollar, then slipped further to 82.09, registering a fall of 24 paise over its previous close.
In the previous session on Monday, the rupee had settled down by 52 paise at 81.85 against the dollar.