India’s stock benchmark opened in a subdued session amid weakness in global markets, as investors awaited the outcome of two-day deliberation by the Federal Reserve’s rate-setting panel later in the day. Declines in IT and financials offset gains in auto and FMCG stocks.

The Sensex traded 304.8 points around the flat line between 59,491.8 and 59,796.6 in the first few minutes after starting flat. The Nifty50 has traded broadly in the 17,750-17,850 range so far.

A total of 24 stocks in the Nifty50 basket start in the red. Tech Mahindra, Hindalco, HDFC Twins and ONGC are the biggest laggards.

Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, JSW Steel and HCL Tech – all down about 0.5% – were also the hardest hit blue chips.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Cipla, PowerGrid, Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra & Mahindra, Adani Ports, Asian Paints, Wipro, UltraTech and Eicher were among the top gainers, which rose between 0.2% and 0.7%.

Bank stocks were mixed, with Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty50 Private Bank among the top gainers and losers in the NSE sector index.

“The general trend in the market right now is that India is outperforming other markets, especially the US. The big question is whether this performance can be sustained. It is possible because the Indian economy and corporate earnings are outperforming. However, the risk is that High valuations in India, Nifty50 is trading at 22 times 2022-23 earnings estimates,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“Sectors facing the domestic economy such as finance, autos, capital goods, telecommunications, cement and fast-moving consumer goods are in a strong position,” he said.

Shares of India’s central bank surged 15.5% after the Reserve Bank of India removed the state-owned lender from its prompt corrective action (PCA) framework.

The overall market breadth was mostly neutral with a positive bias, with 1,644 BSE counters advancing and 1,500 declining early trade. The rupee opened slightly lower against the dollar. Shares of other Asian markets followed Wall Street lower, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan last down 0.8%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.4%. S&P 500 futures edged up 0.1%. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 closed 1.1%, while the Dow and Nasdaq Composite lost 1% each.