Mumbai, Jan 3 (IANS): Muted monthly and quarterly business updates from corporates have dented market sentiments generally, Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said on Wednesday.

Nifty closed lower for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, down 148 points at 21,517.35, pulled down by global weakness, while Sensex slipped 536 points to 71,356.6. Cash market volumes crossed Rs 1 lakh crore, Jasani said.

Global stock markets extended a New Year slide on Wednesday, as market optimism about early US interest rate cuts ebbed and the latest escalation of hostilities in the Middle East weighed on sentiments.

Caution was dominating the markets ahead of the release of minutes from the US Federal Reserve's December meeting, he said.

Meanwhile, India's manufacturing sector activity expanded in December, although the HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) came in at an 18-month low of 54.9, data released on Wednesday showed.

At 54.9, the December manufacturing PMI is well below 56.0 posted in November, Jasani said.

Nifty closed down for the second consecutive session and closed almost at an intra-day low. It could now stay in the 21,365-21,680 band with a weak bias for the near term, he added.

Nagaraj Shetti, Senior Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities, said the short-term trend of Nifty continues to be negative.

A decisive move below 21,500 levels could open the next downside of 21,255 (20-day EMA) and 20,980 levels in the near term. Immediate resistance is placed at 21,670, he said.