Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty dropped in early trade on Wednesday, dragged by ITC amid stake sale reports.

The 30-share BSE benchmark gauge Sensex declined 200.32 points to 81,351.31 in early trade. The NSE Nifty dipped 61.2 points to 24,765.

From the Sensex firms, ITC, IndusInd Bank, Nestle, Titan, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries and Maruti were among the laggards.

ITC dropped over 3 per cent amid reports that British American Tobacco ( BAT), the largest shareholder in ITC Ltd, is gearing up to sell part stake in the diversified conglomerate via the block deal route and intends to dilute its 2.3 per cent stake this time.

Infosys, Eternal, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Tata Consultancy Services were among the gainers.

"BAT’s decision to sell 2.3 per cent stake in ITC will keep the stock subdued," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Shanghai's SSE Composite index were trading in the positive territory while Hong Kong's Hang Seng quoted lower.

US markets ended sharply higher on Tuesday. Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.47 per cent, S&P 500 surged 2.05 per cent and Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.78 per cent.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 348.45 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.37 per cent to USD 64.33 a barrel.

On Tuesday, the BSE Sensex dropped 624.82 points or 0.76 per cent to settle at 81,551.63. The Nifty declined 174.95 points or 0.70 per cent to 24,826.20.

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