Sensex, Nifty edge lower dragged down by ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance

The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Tuesday dragged down by losses in ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, HCL Technologies and State Bank of India. The Sensex fell as much as 77 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 25,257. Meanwhile, the downside was capped on the back of buying interest in HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and ITC.

As of 9:24 am, the Sensex was down 65 points at 82,505 and Nifty 50 index slipped 11 points to 25,265.

Most of the Asian markets were trading lower with Japan's Nikkei falling 0.31 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng declining 0.6 per cent, China's Shanghai Composite falling 0.27 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI falling 0.12 per cent.

Australian shares fell in lacklustre trade on Tuesday, weighed down by mining and consumer staples stocks, while investors were cautious ahead of local economic data that could drive the country's monetary policy forward. The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.4 per cent to 8,078.5 by 6:40 am.

Back home, eight of 13 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Realty index's 1 per cent gain. Consumer durables, healthcare, pharma, metal, media and select FMCG shares were facing selling pressure.

On the other hand, banking, financial services, information technology and private bank stocks were facing selling pressure.

Mid- and small-cap shares were outperforming their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.42 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.65 per cent.

Among the individual shares, Kaynes Technologies rose over 5 per cent after the Union Cabinet gave a nod to manufacturing plant with a daily capacity of 6.3 million chips, with a total project cost of Rs 3,300 crore.

Bajaj Finance was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 1.7 per cent to Rs 7,316. Bajaj Finserv, Infosys, Bajaj Auto, Titan, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, LTI Mindtree and Tata Consultancy Services also fell between 0.4-1 per cent.

On the flipside, Hindalco, Sun Pharma, Shriram Finance, ITC, Power Grid, Divi's Labs, Mahindra & Mahindra and HDFC Bank were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,049 shares were advancing while 946 were declining on the BSE.