India's main indexes declined on Wednesday, dragged by information technology stocks, as global markets slid amid fading optimism about early U.S. interest rate cuts, ahead of the release of the Federal Reserve minutes and jobs data.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.41% to 21,577.60 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex shed 0.47% to 71,555.96, as of 10:01 a.m. IST.

"There is a distinct possibility of profit booking to continue, but 21,500 is a very good support level for Nifty 50," said Samrat Dasgupta, chief executive of Esquire Capital Investment Advisors.

The IT index fell 2.2%. Wipro and Infosys were among the top Nifty 50 losers.

"IT will be definitely under pressure this earnings season, because we have not seen any fundamental positive change in the client budget and the read-through from Accenture's results were not optimistic," Dasgupta added.

Asian shares dropped 1% for the second straight session, tracking a broader global sell-off. Wall Street fell overnight, dragged by a slide in Apple over demand concerns.

The Fed minutes, due later in the day, and key labour market data, expected later this week, will help assess if the optimism over potential rate cuts is justified.

Adani group stocks climbed between 1.25% and 13% ahead of the Supreme Court of India's judgement on the petitions seeking independent probe into U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research's allegations against the conglomerate.

Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone topped Nifty 50 gainers, adding 6% and 4%, respectively.

Rail Vikas Nigam added 2.7% after getting a 1.23 billion rupees ($14.76 million) order for the redevelopment of a railway station in Kerala.

VST Industries rose 2% on stake addition through block deals by high net-worth individual (HNI) Radhakishan Damani.

 

($1 = 83.3180 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza, Sonia Cheema and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)