The Sensex was trading lower by 193 points, while the Nifty lost 60 points in trade. Among the early losers in trade were banking stocks led by ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank and State Bank of India.

Other notable losers in trade were DLF, Hindalco and Punjab National Bank. Among the handful of stocks that gained ground in trade were Tata Motors, Wipro and HCL Tech.

Bharti Airtel which reported a good set of Q3 numbers was also trading higher today. Hero Motor Corp was also seeing gains ahead of its results to be declared later today.

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever continued to have a bad day in trade losing further ground. The scrip has been weak ever since the company declared its results.

IT stocks were also trading lower with Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services both losing ground in trade.

The mid cap index lost more than 1 per cent , largely in line with the broader markets. However, Aurobindo Pharma, Havells India and Tata Beverages were trading in the green.

The stock of Crompton Greaves was up more than 2 per cent, after the company reported a good set of numbers.

Meanwhile, Asian markets led by Japan dived in trade as the US Federal Reserve further eased its asset purchase programme, more popularly known as QE3 by $10 billion.

The Japanese Nikkei saw a huge cut of 511 points or a staggering 3.31 per cent, while the Hang Sang was down 1.5 per cent in trade and the Singapore's Strait Times down 1 per cent in trade as a results of the US Fed's decision.

Today's fall in the Asian markets was also on account of the fact that the final China HSBC purchasing manager's index (PMI) fell to a new six-month low of 49.5 in January.

GoodReturns.in