Sensex Edges Lower On Weak global Cues, Nifty Below 9,650

Indian shares edged lower on Wednesday tracking weak global markets, which fell tracking overnight slump in crude oil prices. The Sensex fell over 50 points to 31,235, while the Nifty50 index shed nearly 25 point to 9,625. IT, banks, metal and energy shares were among the biggest losers today.

Among Nifty stocks, HCL Technologies was the top loser, down 1.61 per cent followed by Ambuja Cements, Vedanta, ONGC and Gail India, which fell between 1.1-1.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, L&T was the top gainer in Nifty, up 1.34 per cent. Hundustan Unilever, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma and Bank of Baroda were the other major gainers in the Nifty rising between 0.12-0.9 per cent.

As of 9:27 am, Sensex was down 47 points at 31,250.55 while Nifty traded 24.40 points or 0.25 per cent lower at 9,629.10.

Meanwhile, A renewed slump in oil prices to seven-month lows put Asian investors on edge on Wednesday, overshadowing a decision by U.S. index provider MSCI to add mainland Chinese stocks to one of its popular benchmarks.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.7 percent, with Australia's commodity-heavy market down 1.1 percent. Japan's Nikkei eased 0.2 percent.

Oil had shed 2 percent on Tuesday as increased supply from several key producers overshadowed high compliance by OPEC and non-OPEC producers on a deal to cut global output.

Overnight, the Dow Jones index fell 61.85 points, or 0.29 percent, to 21,467.14, the S&P 500 lost 0.67 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.82 percent. (With agency inputs)