New Delhi, May 24 (IANS): Indian equity benchmark indices traded in a narrow range on Tuesday and settled marginally in the red.

The Sensex closed at 54,052.61 points, down 236 points, or 0.43 per cent, whereas Nifty was at 16,125.15 points, down 89.55 points or 0.55 per cent.

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty media, IT, FMCG, metal, pharma, and realty declined the most on Tuesday.

"Anxiety of slowing economy & rising interest rates underpinned by soaring inflation continued to haunt the global market. On the domestic front, while all major sectors succumbed to the pressure, the auto sector bucked the market trend this month gaining on fuel price cut and rise in steel custom duty," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Heavy sell-off by overseas investors too had a bearing on the underperformance of the domestic indices.

"The unprecedented FII sell- off has been fuelled by soaring global inflation, the possibility of aggressive monetary tightening in India, fears of a recession in the US and the intensifying war. Globally, risk aversion is high and markets may continue to be under pressure for some time. This, together with the rupee's depreciation versus the dollar, raises the possibility that FII outflows may continue in the short term," said Yesha Shah, Head, Equity Research at Samco Securities.

Indications are in the favour of further consolidation in the index so participants should focus more on stock-specific trading approaches, said Ajit Mishra, VP, Research at Religare Broking.