Sensex ends 19 points down; Nifty holds 8,250 level

Extending the decline for the second consecutive session, the domestic markets edged lower in trade on Wednesday as a steep fall in China's markets revived global risk aversion, while caution ahead of key corporate earnings such as Wipro , Idea Cellular also weighed on sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex wiped out all its early gaines and fell 19.17 points to end at 27,287.66 as pharma and banking stocks failed to shape up.

The broader CNX Nifty settled the day just a tad above 8,250 after going as high as 8294.40 points earlier in the day.

Market breadth remained positive with 18 of the 30 Sensex stocks trading in green.

Dr Reddys Lab was the top Sensex loser and fell over 3 per cent to settle at Rs 4,174.8.

Analysts said they expected the recent momentum in shares to continue should earnings come in better than expected.

Wipro, Idea Cellular are due to report their earnings later in the day.

Federal Bank ended the day 12 per cent down after it posted lower net profit at Rs Rs 161.2 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2015, as compared to Rs 240.30 crore year-on-year.

While, markets were spooked yesterday on account of Standard & Poor's keeping India's sovereign rating unchanged to lowest investment grade, the global brokerage firm BofA-ML on Tuesday said Indian economy is expected to witness a slow recovery. Delay in global revival and lending rate cuts at the domestic front are two factors, brokerage believes, will impact country's growth.  

Among Asian markets, China's Shanghai Composite slumped 3.06 per cent, the worst daily performance in five weeks, as a correction in small caps deepened through the day. Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled the day 0.37 per cent down, while Japan's Nikkei added 1.91 per cent at close.

Overnight, Dow Jones ended 0.1 per cent lower, while the S&P 500 eased 0.14 per cent and the Nasdaq 0.5 per cent.

READ MORE: Top 10 stocks that trended on Dalal Street today

Lowdown on markets today:

3:20 pm

Sensex at 27,299.73, down 7.10 points

Nifty at 8,255.05, down 6.60 points

1:30 pm

Sensex at 27,277.10, down 29.73 points

Nifty at 8,242, down 19.65 points

12:20 pm

Sensex at 27296.86, down 10 points

Nifty at 8249.75, down 12 points

10:43 am

Sensex at 27,426.70, up 119.87 points

Nifty at 8,290.05, up 28.40 points

9:28 am

Sensex at 27,370, up 63.17 points

Nifty at 8,272.20, up 10.55 points