Indian Stock markets closed negative for the third consecutive day after a positive opening. Selling was witnessed in select counters at higher levels. The BSE Sensex closed at 10,817 down 81 points after hitting an intraday high of 11,036 and low of 10,715. The Nifty shut at 3,330 down 1.04% or 35 points. It has hit a high of 3,401 and low of 3,296 respectively. Among the broader indices the BSE Midcap Index fell 40 points and the Smallcap Index slipped 65 points. Selling was seen in select capital goods, metals, pharma and banking stocks.

Technical Analyst, Vijay Bhambwani said that the stock markets on Tuesday belled the day on a pessimistic note, and closed with losses, discounting the overseas signals and the credit plan declaration in the bargain.

The 30-share-index BSE Sensex closed with approx 0.75 % losses while the banking and midcap stocks dropped sharply owing to bull relaxing.

The benchmark indices closed with modest loss and were trading volatile allthrough the session. The Sensex closed 81 points lower at 10,898 after hitting an intraday high of 11,068 and low of 10,764.

The Nifty was down 12 points to end the day at 3,365. It hit an intra-day high of 3,414 and low of 3,309.

Among the broader indices, BSE Midcap Index slipped 5 points, whereas Smallcap Index closed after gaining 17 points.

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks ended Wednesday morning trading down as investors retreated to the sidelines ahead of earnings reports.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average dipped 1.7 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 8,709.63.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 1.72 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 829.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar traded at 98.50-55 yen, up from Tuesday's 5 pm quote of 98.01-02 yen.

Washington - US markets rallied Tuesday led by financial shares, after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the "vast majority" of banks now had enough capital to remain afloat and had begun to increase lending to consumers and businesses.

In testimony to a congressional panel, Geithner said that about 110 billion dollars from the initial 700-billion-dollar financial rescue package had yet to be used by the Treasury, while another 25 billion dollars was due to be repayed by banks already recovering.

The BSE benchmark Sensex finally ended the day with small loss, after skipping up and down throughout the trading session on mixed global cues.

The Sensex closed 81 points lower at 10,898 after hitting an intraday high of 11,068 and low of 10,764, while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty settled the day, down 12 points at 3,365 from its last close.

In addition, BSE Mid Cap Index closed with loss of 5.77% at 3523.14 while, Small Cap Index closed with gain 16.83 points at 4,027.98.