Key stock market indices fell on Tuesday as investors refrained from placing big bets ahead of an economic growth data, while a rally in technology stocks lost steam and Sun Pharmaceutical fell after the company logged a loss for the March quarter.
The NSE Nifty 50 index was down 0.51 per cent at 16,574.95, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.66 per cent to 55,550.33 in the early trade. Both indexes were set to snap three straight days of gains.
Asian stocks also lost ground and the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan snapped a two-day winning streak and dropped 0.2 per cent after data showed German consumer prices increased at their fastest pace in half a century, heightening nerves about the pace and scale of looming interest rate hikes.
In domestic trading, Nifty's IT sub-index paused a three-day rally and dropped 1.2 per cent.
Shares of Sun Pharma were the top losers in the Nifty 50 index after India's biggest pharmaceutical company logged a consolidated net loss after tax of ₹2,277 crore for the March quarter, versus a profit of ₹894 core a year ago.
Market focus was on GDP data expected later in the day. India's economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic likely stumbled again in the first quarter of this year primarily due to Omicron-related restrictions and rapid inflation, a Reuters poll last week showed.