Indian stocks fell on Wednesday, dragged by lenders ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy announcement due later in the day.
The central bank is widely expected to keep rates on hold following the forthcoming monetary policy committee meeting at 2:30 pm local time.
At 0610 GMT, the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 0.33 percent at 32,694 while the broader NSE Nifty declined 0.44 percent to 10,074.
Among the top Sensex losers, Tata Steel fell 2 percent, State Bank of India dropped 1.3 percent, Sun Pharma declined 1.1 percent while ITC shed 1 percent.
Banking stocks fell before the RBI Policy. Punjab National Bank fell 1 percent, Yes Bank 0.8 percent, Bank of Baroda 0.7 percent, ICICI Bank 0.6 percent and HDFC Bank 0.5 percent.
Tata Steel lost 2 percent after Bloomberg reported that Germany's biggest union has given Thyssenkrupp AG until December 22 to guarantee jobs and investments before the labour group will give its blessing to a joint venture with Tata Steel.
Dish TV India declined 1.7 percent after the company said it posted a net loss of Rs 16 crore in September quarter.
Market breadth was in the favour of gainers, with about 2 stocks advancing to every 1 stock that declined.
Asian stocks are poised for the longest losing streak in two years as commodities companies led declines.
Weaker copper also checked risk sentiment. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.9 percent.
Investors are awaiting catalysts that would provide reason to add to risk assets before the year draws to a close. Friday's U.S. jobs report is the next big data release on the calendar.
