The Indian equity market fell for the fourth consecutive session ahead of Federal Reserve’s policy announcement today. Sensex fell 152 points to 52,541 and Nifty closed 40 points lower at 15,692.
Top Sensex losers were NTPC, Infosys, Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and PowerGrid, falling up to 2.02 per cent. Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro were among the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 4.24 per cent.
Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities said, “The short-term trend of Nifty continues to be weak with range bound action. Such lack of strength at the important support signal chances of false downside breakout or one leg of downside before showing sharp upside bounce from the lows of around 15,500 levels in the short term. Immediate resistance is placed at 15,780.”
The market cap of BSE-listed firms stood at Rs 244.65 lakh crore against Rs 244.63 lakh crore market cap in the previous session.
BSE midcap and small cap indices rose 114 points and 123 points, respectively.
Osho Krishan, senior analyst – Technical & Derivative Research, Angel One said, “Going forward, the market is likely to remain volatile, mirroring the global bourses. We reiterate to keep a close tab on the Fed meet outcome and the aftermaths on the equity space. Also, one should continue with the stock-specific approach, as even though the indices may not be doing much, the individual stocks are not at all short of action. Hence, one should continue to identify such potential movers and trade accordingly.”
Metal, oil and gas and IT stocks were the top sectoral losers with their BSE indices ending 124 pts, 148 pts and 168 points lower, respectively.
Auto stocks were the top gainers with BSE auto index ending 227 points higher at 25,525.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market as they sold shares worth Rs 4,502.25 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.
Meanwhile, the rupee fell 13 paise to close at a fresh all-time low of 78.17 against the US dollar on Wednesday.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 77.99 and finally settled at its all-time low of 78.17, down 13 paise over its previous close of 78.04.
On Tuesday, Sensex ended 153 points lower at 52,693 and Nifty fell 75 points to 15,699.
Global markets
Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul and Tokyo ended lower, while Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the green. Markets in Europe were trading higher in mid-session deals. Stock exchanges in the US ended on a mixed note in the overnight session.
