Mumbai, Sep 14 (IANS): The Indian equity market ended down on Wednesday following the sharp sell-off in the global market, dealers said.

At close, Sensex ended 224.11 points, or 0.37 per cent, down at 60,346.97, and Nifty closed 66.30 points, or 0.37 per cent, down at 18,003.75. A total of 1,176 shares declined, 1,692 shares advanced and 143 remained unchanged.

Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies remained major losers on the Sensex. BSE LargeCap was down 0.31 per cent, BSE MidCap was down 0.10 per cent and BSE SmallCap was lower 0.01 per cent.

"Although the opening hours of the domestic market mirrored the sharp sell-off in the global market, it steadily recovered as investors gained the confidence to bottom fish, thanks to the brighter prospects for the home economy. The expectation that the Fed would become less hawkish, which had spurred the most recent global rally, was dashed by worse than anticipated US inflation figures.

"Additionally, India's easing WPI inflation numbers added more optimism with banking stocks leading the recovery, while the IT sector's performance was bleak due to recession fears in western markets," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Among sectors, metals and bank indices rose the most, while IT and oil and gas indices fell the most.

Markets in Asia Pacific fell on Wednesday, following a major drop in US markets as investors reacted to American inflation going higher than expected.

A semblance of calm returned to markets on Wednesday in Europe after the carnage sparked by hotter-than-expected American inflation that prompted investors to reassess the outlook for interest rates and economic growth. European equities were mildly lower, tracking a plunge in US stocks.

India's wholesale inflation fell to the lowest since September last year, at 12.4 per cent in August compared with 13.9 per cent in July 2022 and 11.64 per cent in August 2021.

"For the bulls, 17,900 would be the key support level, and if the index sustains above the same it could move up to 18,100-18,150 levels. On the flip side, a fresh round of selling could be seen only at 17,900 and below the same the index could retest the level of 17,750-17,700." said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.