Stock market today: BSE Sensex over 150 points down; Nifty50 near 23,650

Stock market today: Indian equity benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty50, opened in green but quickly moved to the red territory on Wednesday. While BSE Sensex was near 78,000, Nifty50 was above 23,650. At 9:20 AM, BSE Sensex was trading at 78,045.67, down 153 points or 0.20%. Nifty50 was at 23,673.40, down 35 points or 0.15%.

"We expect markets to remain in a range amidst news flows over HMPV, pre-quarterly business updates, and take cues from the upcoming Q3 results," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal.

Nifty's short-term outlook indicates consolidation between 23,500-23,900, with directional clarity emerging post range breakout.

US markets declined on Tuesday as robust economic data sparked concerns about inflation affecting the Federal Reserve's monetary easing plans.

Asian equities declined, following US markets, as Treasury yields increased amid speculation that the Federal Reserve would delay rate cuts until July due to inflation concerns.

The US dollar strengthened on Wednesday whilst the yen weakened near levels that prompted intervention last year, following robust US economic data that led to yield increases and reduced expectations of Federal Reserve rate reductions.

Foreign portfolio investors became net sellers at Rs 1,491 crore on Tuesday, whilst domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 1615 crore.

FIIs' net short position decreased from Rs 2.22 lakh crore on Monday to Rs 2.21 lakh crore on Tuesday.