Mumbai, Sep 11 (IANS): The Indian equity markets closed in the red on Wednesday due to weak global sentiments.

At closing, Sensex was down 398 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 81,523 and Nifty was down 122 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 24,918.

Selling was led by banking stocks. Nifty Bank was down by 262 points, or 0.51 per cent, at 51,010.

In the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, SBI, Wipro, NTPC, L&T, M&M, JSW Steel, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, and Reliance were the top losers.

Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharma, HUL, Bajaj Finserv, ITC, Bharti Airtel and Kotak Mahindra were the top gainers.

Among the sectoral indices, Auto, IT, PSU Bank, Fin Service, metal, realty, and energy index were major gainers. FMCG and consumption were major laggards.

Vaibhav Vidwani, Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio said: "This decline was largely attributed to a cautious sentiment among investors ahead of the upcoming U.S. consumer inflation data, which is expected to influence future interest rate decisions by the Federal Reserve."

Mandar Bhojane, Research Analyst of Choice Broking said: "On the daily chart, the Nifty is taking support from a rising trend line and has formed a bearish candle. The Nifty has strong support near the 24,800 level. If it breaks this level, it could potentially correct down to 24,600 and 24,400 in the short term. On the flip side, 25,200 acts as a resistance level, and the price may remain sideways within a wide range of 24,800 to 25,200."

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their buying as they bought equities worth Rs 2208 crore on September 10, while domestic institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 275 crore on the same day.

In early trade, at 9.45 a.m., Sensex was up 69 points, or 0.09 per cent, at 81,990 and Nifty was up 29 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 25,070.