Indian equity benchmark Sensex tumbled over 300 points in early trade on Wednesday amid weak global cues. Nifty traded 70.45 points down to 15,504.40.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 309.54 points or 0.60 per cent lower at 51,625.34 in initial deals, tracking losses in Tech Mahindra, followed by ITC, HDFC, HCL Tech, Kotak Bank, Infosys, and ICICI Bank.

NTPC, PowerGrid, Sun Pharma, Maruti, and Reliance Industries were among the gainers.

Sensex ended 2.56 points lower at 51,934.88, while the broader NSE Nifty slipped 7.95 points or 0.05 per cent to 15,574.85 at the closing on Tuesday.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth 449.86 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional exchange data.

The steady decline in fresh Covid cases and rising recovery rates indicate that India is succeeding in bending the pandemic's curve, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

India reported 1,32,788 new coronavirus infections taking the country's tally of Covid-19 cases to 2,83,07,832, while the daily positivity rate has further dropped to 6.57 per cent.

The active cases were recorded below 20 lakh for the second consecutive day.

"With no short-term risks to the market, consolidation is likely in the near term with a stock-specific action in response to the news. Since markets are overbought and over-valued investors should exercise caution even when the markets are exhibiting surprising resilience," he added.

Recoveries continue to outnumber daily new cases for 20th consecutive days. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,61,79,085, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.18 per cent, the data stated.

The negative trend of the market pushed the Indian currency down by 26 paise to 73.16 against the US dollar in early trade.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Seoul were trading in the negative territory in mid-session deals, while Tokyo was trading in the positive territory. Equities on Wall Street closed with losses in the overnight session.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.24 per cent higher at $70.42 per barrel.