NEW DELHI: Indian stock indices traded sharply lower at the opening bell Wednesday, tracking weak overnight US markets. The US stocks ended with deep cuts, after sticky US inflation data - more than estimated at 3.1 per cent in January -- triggered worries of further delay in the easing of interest rates. S&P 500 declined about 1.4 per cent Tuesday.

Back home in India, at 9.20 am, Sensex was at 70,928.12 points, down 627.07 points or 0.88 per cent, while Nifty was 21,565.30 points, down 177.95 points or 0.82 per cent. Among the widely-tracked Nifty 50 companies, 9 advanced and the rest 41 declined at the time of filing this report.

The benchmark indices had a volatile trading session on Tuesday. Nifty closed 113 points higher, while Sensex was up 483 points after experiencing unpredictable movements. Banking and financial shares saw intraday recovery from lower levels, resulting in both indices rising more than 1 per cent, said Shrikant Chouhan, Head - Equity Research, Kotak Securities.

Continued selling of Indian stocks by foreign portfolio investors coupled with high stock valuations, are among some of the concerns for the investors. Foreign portfolio investors have been aggressively selling Indian stocks, turning net sellers in the Indian equity market so far in 2024, after making a beeline to accumulate domestic stocks during November and December.

After selling stocks worth Rs 25,744 crore in January they have so far sold Rs 2,524 crore in February.