Mumbai, Feb 18 : The Indian benchmark indices opened lower on Tuesday as selling was seen in the PSU bank, metal and realty sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.37 am, Sensex was trading 193.10 points or 0.25 per cent down at 75,803.76 while the Nifty declined 76.95 points or 0.34 per cent at 22,882.55.

Nifty Bank was down 145.65 points or 0.30 per cent at 49,113.25. Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 49,758.60 after declining 91.25 points or 0.18 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 15,390.25 after dropping 22.85 points or 0.15 per cent.

Experts said that 'Track a Falling Wedge' pattern connected the major lows of August and November. However, a closer look at recent price action reveals another 'Falling Wedge' on a shorter timeframe, linking the lows of November and January.

"Looking ahead, strong support is evident at every 100-point interval, ranging from 22800'22700 (lower end of the wedge) to 22600'22500, which coincides with the 127 per cent retracement of the early February rebound," according to Sameet Chavan, Head Research, Technical and Derivative - Angel One.

Meanwhile, in the Sensex pack, Tech Mahindra, Zomato, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, HCLTech, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, Maruti and Bajaj Finance were the top gainers. Whereas, UltraTech Cement, Titan, NTPC, SBI, Tata Steel and IndusInd Bank were the top losers.

In the last trading session on Friday Dow Jones declined 0.37 per cent to close at 44,546.08. The S&P 500 declined 0.01 per cent to 6,114.63 and the Nasdaq climbed 0.41 per cent to close at 20,026.77.

In the Asian markets, Jakarta, Seoul, Japan, China and Hong Kong were trading in the green. Whereas Bangkok was trading in red.

On the institutional front, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their selling streak offloading equities worth Rs 3,937.83 crore on February 17. In contrast, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) remained net buyers, purchasing equities worth Rs 4,759.77 crore on the same day.

/IANS