Heavyweight technology stocks dragged India's blue-chip share indices lower on Tuesday, ahead of earnings reports from several large-cap companies, with investors also bracing for a likely sharp interest rate hike in the United States this week.
The Nifty was down 0.66% at around 16,520, in early trade, while Sensex slipped 0.69% to around 55,385.
"Investors are likely to be in a wait-and-watch mode as all eyes will be on the US Federal Reserve's rate decision," said Prashanth Tapse, research analyst at Mehta Equities.
Asian peers were also on tenterhooks ahead of the likely 75-basis-point Fed rate hike, while a profit warning from US retailer Walmart dampened sentiment.
"After Walmart's comments on inflation and growth, market jitters have increased ahead of the Fed policy meet, and that has spilled over into the domestic market despite a better-than-expected earnings season," said Aishvarya Dadheech, a fund manager at Ambit Asset Management.
Meanwhile, after heavy foreign outflows every month since November, Indian equities have received a net $52.95 million of inflows this month till Monday. For the month so far, the Nifty and the Sensex are up about 4.5% each.
Private lender Axis Bank slid 2.3% in its biggest intraday percentage drop in nearly a month despite a beat on quarterly profit, as analysts flagged soft loan growth.
Nifty IT slid 2.3% and was the worst performer among sub-indices, with IT major Infosys dropping 3%.
Helping cut losses on the Nifty was a 3.7% rise in financial services firm Bajaj Finserv on plans to issue bonus shares and split its stock.
Nifty components Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints and Larsen & Toubro will report their results later in the day.
