Sensex trims losses; European markets extend gains

Indian equity benchmarks trimmed losses, supported by Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Industries. Metals stocks too recouped losses while State Bank of India also pared losses.

The 30-share BSE Sensex went down 97 points to 18,961.48 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 34 points to 5,753.45.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors rallied 2 percent and FMCG major Hindustan Unilever was up 1.7 percent.

Utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra, engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro and state-run oil & gas producer ONGC gained 0.9-1.3 percent.

Housing finance company HDFC crashed 4.75 percent as Carlyle sold its stake in the company via multiple block deals.

Software services exporters Wipro, Infosys and HCL Tech were down 1.6-2 percent. Drug producer Sun Pharma and country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank fell 1.5 percent.

Shares of IDFC, Reliance Infrastructure and Jaiprakash Associates tanked over 2.5 percent.

France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE extended gains from 0.1-0.4 percent to 0.4-0.8 percent