The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, slipped for the second straight session on Wednesday, hurt by falling rates for larger vessels.
The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels, fell 27 points, or 2.16 percent, to 1,222 points.
The capesize index shed 107 points, or 4.3 percent, at 2,382 points - its biggest one-day percentage fall since July 27. The index snapped a 17-day rally on Tuesday.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were down $860 at $17,974.
"Another soft day across the shipping segments with rates seeing some downwards pressure," Clarksons Platou Securities analysts said in a note.
The panamax index fell 34 points, or 2.53 percent, to 1,311 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, decreased $268 to $10,510.
Among smaller vessels, the supramax index rose 9 points to 833 points and the handysize index rose 2 points to 470 points.
Reporting by Karen Rodrigues in Bengaluru