India's NSE stock futures listed on the Singapore Exchange were down 0.10% at 18,861.50, as of 7:59 a.m. IST.

Wall Street equities declined overnight, ahead of Powell's testimony before the financial affairs committee of U.S. House of Representatives, due at 7:30 p.m. IST.

Asian markets fell as China's modest rate cut dragged down sentiment. [MKTS/GLOB]

The Nifty and Sensex reversed losses in the final hour on Tuesday, inching close to all-time high levels. Among broader peers, midcaps closed at a new record high, while smallcaps hit a fresh 52-week high.

The near-term uptrend in the Nifty remains intact, said Nagaraj Shetti, technical research analyst at HDFC Securities. "One may expect the Nifty to zoom to all-time highs in the next few sessions."

Foreign institutional investors sold 19.43 billion rupees ($236.8 million) worth of Indian equities on a net basis on Tuesday, while domestic investors bought 19.73 billion rupees of shares, as per provisional NSE data.

STOCKS TO WATCH

** HDFC Life Insurance Company: India's competition regulator approves proposed combination involving the acquisition of additional shareholding of the company by Housing Development Finance Corporation

** HDFC Asset Management Company: Societe Generale, Zulia Investments, SBI Mutual Fund and Smallcap World Fund bought a combined 9.91 million shares (4.64% stake). abrdn Investment Management sold its entire 10.2% stake at 1,873 rupees per share.

** Shriram Finance: Piramal Enterprises to sell entire 8.34% stake in company via block deals, according to reports.

** Rail Vikas Nigam: Reports on breaking of joint venture between company and Transmashholding (TMH) is facturally incorrect.

($1 = 82.0704 Indian Rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)