Stocks open lower, Nifty dips below 18,100

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fell in early trade on Wednesday as financial, oil and IT stocks sold off amid weak global trends.

The 30-stock BSE Sensex shed 268 points or 0.44% to 60,709.93, with 24 of its constituents down. The index opened lower at 60,834.73 and fell further to a low of 60,693.39 in early trade.

The NSE’s broader Nifty fell 90.25 points or 0.5 percent to 18,028.05 as 39 of its counters traded in the red. The index opened lower at 18,093.35.

Among the Sensex stocks, Ultratech Cement, SBI, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, L&T, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Infosys and TCS were the major losers.

Shares of Tata Steel, HUL and Maruti were higher.

“The 18,200 Nifty has acted as a major resistance, keeping the Nifty within a narrow range of 17,800-18,200. Two events, the Union Budget and the Fed’s Feb 1 rate decision, have the potential to break out of this tight range,” said Geojit Financial Services chief investment officer Strategist VK Vijayakumar said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index , which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.04% to 101.88.

Brent crude fell 0.43% to $86.48 a barrel, while the Indian basket of crude fell 2.69% to $79.98 a barrel.

Wall Street’s main indexes were mixed on Tuesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision. The S&P 500 edged down 0.1%, the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) were net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday, selling shares worth Rs 7,605.1 crore, according to exchange data.

(Aside from the title, this story is unedited by NDTV staff and published via a syndicated feed.)