Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark index Sensex shed 52.66 points to end at 36,431.67 and the Nifty50 index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) settled at 10,951.70, down 15.60 points from the previous close. That marked an end to a rally in the markets that lasted for seven sessions in a row. Losses were led by PSU banking, fast-moving consumer goods and metal stocks.
Top laggards on the 50-scrip index were Grasim Industries, State Bank of India (SBI), Bharti Airtel, Wipro and Vedanta, falling between 1.8 per cent and 3.1 per cent.
The Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Metal sectoral indices finished 1.8 per cent and 1 per cent lower respectively.
The Sensex declined as much as 281.43 points to hit 36,202.90 at the day's weakest point, but recovered most of those losses by the end of the session. The Nifty touched an intraday low of 10,880.05, but settled 71.65 higher from that level.
Analysts expect some more upside in the domestic markets going forward. "Despite the global weakness, Indian markets are nicely holding up. This indicates strength... It appears that this upmove might have some steam left," said Prasanna Pathak, fund manager, Taurus Mutual Fund.
The government plans to increase its capital infusion into some public sector banks to Rs. 1.06 lakh crore in the current fiscal year (2018-19), news agency Reuters cited a finance ministry source as saying.
The Federal Reserve raised key overnight lending rates by 0.25 per cent point as expected to a range of 2.25-2.5 per cent on Wednesday.
The US central bank said "some further" rate hikes would be necessary in the year ahead, with its policymakers projecting two rate hikes on average next year instead of three they saw back in September, a change that was also largely in line with expectations.
But the slight revision was not enough to ease market fears over a further US economic slowdown on the back of trade tensions, a waning boost from tax cuts and tightening monetary conditions for companies.
In New York, US S&P 500 Index lost 1.54 per cent to hit its lowest level since September 2017. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 1.1 per cent, with Australian shares also declining 1.3 per cent to a two-year closing low.
The Nifty had risen by 478.85 points, or 4.6 per cent, in seven consecutive sessions till Wednesday.
(With Agency Inputs)
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