The market hit fresh intraday low in mid-afternoon trade as selling pressure intensified. At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 158.36 points or 0.42% at 37,132.31. The Nifty 50 index was down 54.75 points or 0.49% at 11,224.15.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 879 shares rose and 1693 shares fell. A total of 172 shares were unchanged.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.91%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 1.16%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

Auto shares were mixed. Hero MotoCorp (up 1.53%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.67%), Tata Motors (up 0.28%), TVS Motor Company (up 0.27%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.12%), edged higher. Ashok Leyland (down 0.12%), Eicher Motors (down 1.51%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.95%) and Escorts (down 2.86%), edged lower.

Most telecom shares declined. MTNL (down 6.5%), Reliance Communications (down 0.83%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 0.54%) and Bharti Airtel (down 0.29%), edged lower. Idea Cellular was up 0.32%.

Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel was up 0.64%

Overseas, most European shares were trading higher with investors appearing to brush off escalating trade tensions between the US and China.

Asian stocks rose across the board on Wednesday as expectations that Beijing would implement stimulus to soften the economic blow from the Sino-US trade war helped Chinese shares rally.

China announced tariffs targeting more than 5,000 US products, worth about $60 billion, will go into effect on 24 September 2018. However, China will put a 10% tariff on some goods it had previously earmarked for a 20% levy. At the same time, China's commerce ministry said that it filed a complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the US.

Beijing's announcement came after the Trump administration said the US will impose 10% tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, and those duties will rise to 25% at the end of the year.

US stocks came off earlier highs but still closed higher on Tuesday as investors shrugged off escalating trade tensions to instead focus on the robust economy.