The Sensex fell 153 points in opening trade on Wednesday, as conflicting global signals and continuing foreign capital outflows kept equity benchmark indexes on the back foot for the fourth day in a row.

In early trade, the BSE benchmark was trading 153.25 points down at 52,540.32. The Nifty Index fell 39.55 points to 15,692.55.

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Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, and Nestle were the main laggards in the Sensex pack. Bajaj Finserv, M&M, Tata Steel, and Bajaj Finance, on the other side, benefited.

Markets in Seoul and Tokyo were trading down, while Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading higher during mid-session trade. The overnight session on US stock markets finished on a mixed note.

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Sensex fell 153.13 points, or 0.29%, to 52,693.57 in the previous session. The NSE Nifty fell 42.30 points, or 0.27%, to 15,732.10.

“All eyes will be on the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) June policy meeting outcome with a focus on the magnitude of the rate increase. Also, FII selling in the domestic market and crude oil prices above USD 121.3 a barrel will continue to weigh on investors’ sentiment,” said Prashanth Tapse, Vice President (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

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According to exchange statistics, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to be net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday, selling shares worth Rs 4,502.25 crore.

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Meanwhile, the international oil index Brent crude rose 0.12% to USD 121.35 a barrel. In early trade on Wednesday, the rupee began flat and rose 5 paise to 77.99 against the US dollar.