Indian equity benchmarks slipped into the red on Thursday tracking weakness across global markets amid fears that steep rate hikes might hamper economic growth, ahead of a key US inflation reading due later in the day. Investors awaited more of financial results from India Inc for domestic cues — with Infosys and Mindtree due to report their numbers later in the day — after TCS kicked off the earnings season on a strong note.

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Both headline indices fell as much as 0.3 percent in the first few minutes of trade. The Sensex lost 200 points to hit 57,425.9 on the downside during the session so far, and the Nifty50 slipped to as low as 17,073.4, down 50.3 points from its previous close.

A total of 30 stocks in the Nifty50 basket began the day below the flatline. Wipro, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Titan, SBI Life, Apollo Hospitals and Hindustan Unilever were the top laggards, declining between 0.3 percent and 5.1 percent.

ICICI Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Wipro and ITC were the biggest drags on both main gauges.

On the other hand, Hindalco, HCL Tech, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Bharat Petroleum, Adani Ports, Nestle and Tech Mahindra — rising between 0.3 percent and 2.7 percent — were among the blue-chip stocks that rose the most.

Gains in spaces such as auto and metal saved both Sensex and Nifty50 from deeper losses.

"US inflation numbers have the potential to move the markets globally... If the actual data indicates mild softening of inflation, the markets are likely to stage a relief rally on expectations that the Fed will not sound aggressively hawkish. There are concerns that the Fed might overdo tightening leading to a hard landing of the US economy," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Wipro shares hit a 52-week low, having begun the day down more than four percent, after the IT major reported a set of quarterly numbers that fell short of Street estimates.

HCL Tech shares rose after the company posted a better-than-expected set of numbers for the quarter ended September, and raised its constant currency revenue guidance to 13.5-14.5 percent from 12-14 percent. Morgan Stanley upgraded HCL Tech to 'overweight' from 'underweight' and raised its target price for the stock by 26.4 percent to Rs 1,100.

"HCL Tech’s numbers allay lots of fears surrounding the IT sector, which is now attractively valued," said Vijayakumar.

The Infosys stock declined as much as 0.9 percent to Rs 1,416.4 apiece on BSE. Analysts in a CNBC-TV18 poll expect the country's second largest software exporter to report a 5.2 percent sequential rise in net profit for the July-September period. They estimate its margin to improve by 48 basis points to 20.54 percent.

Mindtree shares fell as much as 2.1 percent in morning deals. Analysts estimate the IT company's quarterly net profit at Rs 482.6 crore — which translates to a rise of 2.3 percent compared with the quarter ended June.

Overall market breadth was largely neutral, as 1,363 stocks rose and 1,462 fell in early deals on BSE.

The rupee inched higher to 82.30 against the US dollar at the open.

Global markets

Equities in other Asian markets were in the red following a weak handover from Wall Street, after minutes of the Fed's last policy meeting showed policymakers agreed there is need to maintain a more restrictive stance. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.3 percent at the last count. Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.6 percent.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.1 percent. On Wednesday, the three main US indices finished a volatile session 0.1-0.3 percent lower, as investors awaited a key US retail inflation reading due the next day for cues.

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