Indian markets opened on a weak note on Wednesday dragged down by information technology, banking, and metal stocks.
The Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark 30-share index, Sensex, was down 300 points, trading at 40,325 points.
The broader 50-share index of the National Stock Exchange, Nifty, fell 75 points to trade at 11,858.
Banking stocks like the State Bank of India, Axis Bank, and ICICI Bank were down ahead of a loan moratorium hearing in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Indian markets have weakened after eight successive days of gains. The weakness stemmed from the delay in stimulus in the US and also lacklustre projections about the Indian economy by the International Monetary Fund late Tuesday evening.
The IMF said that the Indian economy will contract by 10.3 percent in the financial year ending March 2021.
Other Asian markets also witnessed a sharp fall, with the Shanghai composite down about 0.6 percent and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong slipping somewhat. The Australian stock market also traded in the red, with the S&P/ASX 200 slipping around 0.12 percent. The IMF report on the world economy also impacted the Straits Times index in Singapore which dipped around 0.62 percent.
