Stock Market: Equity indices open lower; Sensex falls 181 points, Nifty at 11,269

Equity benchmark indices drifted lower during early hours on Wednesday amid weak global cues with pharma stocks losing the most.

At 10:15 AM, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 181 points or 0.47% at 38,226 while the Nifty 50 lost by 54 points or 0.48% at 11,269.

Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty pharma slipping by 1.8%, private bank by 0.7%, and IT by 0.6%.

But Nifty PSU bank gained by 3.5%. Among stocks, Cipla fell by 1.9% to Rs 762.65 per share while Sun Pharma was down by 2% and Dr. Reddy's by 1.3%.

The others which lost were Hindalco, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Wipro, and GAIL.

However, State Bank of India gained by 3.8% to Rs 202.45 per share.

Adani Ports and auto majors like Eicher Motors, Hero MotoCorp, and Mahindra & Mahindra traded with a positive bias.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks dipped on growing uncertainty over whether the US lawmakers will agree on an additional round of fiscal stimulus to support the economy still struggling with the novel coronavirus.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.76% while Japan`s Nikkei gained by 0.2%.