Benchmark indices ended lower for a second session in a row in yet another volatile session on Wednesday.
Investors stayed cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s announcement later tonight and the ongoing tensions in the Middle East.
At close, Sensex was down 138.64 points or 0.17 per cent at 81,444.66, and the Nifty was down 41.35 points or 0.17 per cent at 24,812.05.
The underperformance of broader market indices continued with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices fell 0.34 per cent each.
The across-segment selling dragged the overall market capitalization of BSE-listed firms to nearly Rs 446 lakh crore from Rs 448 lakh crore in the previous session.
Among the sectors, most indices ended lower, with Nifty Media down 1.27 per cent, IT down by 0.83 per cent and Metal was down by 0.72 per cent, registering significant losses.
On the gaining side were Nifty Consumer Durables up by 0.79 per cent, Nifty Bank up by 0.21 per cent, Private Bank up by 0.39 per cent, and Auto up by 0.37 per cent.
IndusInd Bank shares climbed after global brokerage firm Nomura upgraded its rating on the stock to “buy.”
Nifty Auto was up post day’s low after reports suggested that India could turn to Australia as an alternative source for rare-earth magnets. These materials are critical to electric and hybrid vehicles, and India currently imports nearly 80 per cent of them from China.
Over 70 stocks touched their 52-week highs on the BSE. These include Authum Investment, Federal-Mogul, AU Small Finance, Axiscades Technologies, Lumax Industries, PSP Projects, Aditya Birla Capital, Redington, and Navin Fluorine, Redington, among others.
In terms of global players, US stocks finished with losses as the Israel-Iran conflict raged on for a fifth day and kept investor anxiety high, with the US military moving fighter jets to the Middle East.
Investors remained cautious ahead of the US Fed policy, which also kept sentiment sombre.