Sensex falls 110 points as markets pare early gains in choppy trade

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks pared all early gains in highly choppy trade on Wednesday, with the Sensex falling 109.94 points amid a mixed trend in global markets.

The 30-share BSE benchmark settled 109.94 points or 0.20 per cent lower at 54,208.53. During the day, it hit a high of 54,786 and a low of 54,130.89.

The broader NSE Nifty dipped 19 points or 0.12 per cent to finish at 16,240.30.

From the Sensex firms, PowerGrid, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, Wipro, NTPC and HCL Technologies were the biggest laggards.

In contrast, UltraTech Cement, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, ITC and Axis Bank were among the gainers.

Markets in Asia settled on a mixed note, with Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo ending in the green, while Shanghai was lower.

Equity exchanges in Europe were also trading on a mixed note in the afternoon session.

Stock exchanges in the US had ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

"With the support from Pharma and FMCG stocks, the domestic market had a steady run until the weak opening of the European market. UK's soaring retail inflation number along with Fed Chair's reassurance on bringing down the inflation, disturbed the sentiment, risking sharper rate hikes," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude gained 1.13 per cent to USD 113.2 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors continued in selling mode, offloading shares worth a net Rs 2,192.44 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.