New Delhi, Extending their losses for the third straight day, domestic equity benchmark indices settled in the red on Wednesday.

Indian indices opened higher on Wednesday but afterwards turned negative later in the day.

Sensex closed at 53,749.26 points, down 303.35 points or 0.56 per cent, whereas Nifty at 16,033.90 points, down 91.25 points or 0.57 per cent."Domestic indices wavered tracking mixed sentiments from the global markets as investors assessed the possibility of a recession in the US followed by the US Fed policy tightening," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Besides, global markets are awaiting the release of the US Fed's minutes, which will be evaluated for details on the path of the upcoming rate hikes, said Nair, adding in these circumstances investors can resort to defensive stocks."Declines outnumbered Advances in the broader market even though measures to rein in inflation were taken to curb exports in sectors which have earned bumper profits," said S. Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities.

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty IT, metal, media, pharma, PSU bank, and realty were the top losers.