Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Wednesday amid weak global trends, higher crude oil prices, and outflow of foreign funds.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 281.18 points or 0.38 per cent to 73,622.73. The NSE Nifty dipped 93.15 points or 0.41 per cent to 22,360.15.

Among the Sensex constituents, 22 stocks were trading in red with Bharti Airtel, Nestle India, Sun Pharma, and IndusInd Bank being the major laggards.

In contrast, Ultratech Cement, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, and Tata Steel defied the trend and were trading in positive territory.

On the 50-share barometer NSE Nifty, as many as 38 shares were in the negative zone.

According to V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, the rising bond yields in the US are impacting equity markets.

He said the expectations of the interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve in July are fading now since the labour market continues to be tight and the rising crude is feared to add to inflation.

"Even though the Fed chief has been sounding dovish recently, the market is now less optimistic about 3 rate cuts in 2024. This will continue to be a drag on equity markets globally. In India FPIs may continue to sell," he said.

Asian markets were trading in negative with Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei 225 losing sharply by 0.78 per cent and 0.68 per cent, respectively. China's Shanghai Composite was trading at a loss of 0.24 per cent.

The US and European markets ended largely lower on Tuesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,622.69 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.08 per cent to USD 88.99 a barrel.

On Tuesday, the BSE benchmark Sensex declined by 110.64 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at 73,903.91. The NSE Nifty closed 8.70 points or 0.04 per cent lower at 22,453.30.

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