Stock market benchmark indices fell in initial trade on Wednesday tracking weak global trends ahead of the release of minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

The BSE Sensex fell 329.12 points to 60,343.60 after a weak beginning. The NSE Nifty declined 97.3 points to 17,729.40.

From the Sensex pack, IndusInd Bank, Wipro, UltraTech Cement, Power Grid, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Technologies, Tata Motors, Infosys, NTPC and Bajaj Finance were the major laggards.

Maruti and Larsen & Toubro were the winners.

In Asian markets, South Korea, Japan, China and Hong Kong were trading lower.

The US markets had ended significantly lower on Tuesday.

"US stocks tumbled led by growing concerns that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for longer," said Mitul Shah, Head of Research – Institutional Desk, Reliance Securities Ltd.

The BSE benchmark had edged down 18.82 points or 0.03 per cent to settle at 60,672.72 on Tuesday. The Nifty slipped 17.90 points or 0.1 per cent to end at 17,826.70.

International oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.21 per cent to USD 83.01 per barrel.

"The US macro data continues to dictate equity markets globally. The US markets reacted sharply negatively to the series of economic data indicating that the process of disinflation is slow and, therefore, the Fed will have to continue raising rates longer than expected earlier.

"This pushed up the 10-year bond yield sharply to 3.95 per cent and stocks fell sharply. These negative US equity market trends are impacting equity markets everywhere and India cannot be an exception to this trend at least in the near-term," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 525.80 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

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