Sensex drops over 200 points in early trade; Nifty slips below 17,950

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Equity benchmark Sensex fell over 200 points in early trade on Wednesday tracking losses in index majors Reliance Industries, HDFC twins and ICICI Bank amid a largely negative trend in Asian markets.

The 30-share index was trading 245.5 points or 0.41 per cent lower at 60,076.87 in initial deals. Similarly, the Nifty fell 72.40 points or 0.40 per cent to 17,926.80.

HDFC was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding over 1 per cent, followed by Dr Reddy's, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank and HCL Tech. On the other hand, NTPC, Asian Paints, M&M, PowerGrid, Maruti and Bajaj Auto were among the gainers.

In the previous session, Sensex ended 396.34 points or 0.65 per cent lower at 60,322.37, and Nifty fell 110.25 points or 0.61 per cent to 17,999.20. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 560.67 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.

"When valuations are rich, as they are now, some triggers can cause market pullback. The minor pullback on Tuesday was caused by the RBI's observations on excessive stock valuations," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading with losses in mid-session deals, while Shanghai was positive. Stock exchanges in the US ended with gains in the overnight session.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.84 per cent to USD 81.74 per barrel.