Sensex ends 152 pts lower ahead of US Fed decision; Nifty dips below 15,700

CLOSING BELL: NTPC, Infosys, HUL, Wipro, and RIL slipped over 1 per cent each

CLOSING BELL

Stock market highlights: Benchmark equity indices turned lower in the fag-end of the trading session as investors booked profit ahead of the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, due later tonight. 

The S&P BSE Sensex oscillated within a band of less than 400 points intra-day, before settling at 52,541, down 152 points or 0.29 per cent. The NSE Nifty50, on the other hand, ended at 15.692, down 40 points or 0.25 per cent.

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Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, L&T, and Asian Paints were the top Sensex gainers today, rising between 1 and 4 per cent. On the flipside, NTPC, Infosys, HUL, Wipro, and RIL slipped over 1 per cent each.

The broader markets, meanwhile, outpeformed the frontline indices as the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices added around 0.5 per cent each. Sectorally, the Nifty Auto index gained the most and closed nearly a per cent higher, while the Nifty Metal fell 0.7 per cent.

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Global markets

European stocks were cautiously higher on Wednesday after the European Central Bank announced it will hold an unscheduled monetary policy meeting later today to discuss market rout and surging bond yields. The pan-European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.4 per cent in early trade, with banks and insurance stocks adding 2 per cent.

On Wall Street, futures linked to main indices were up in the range of 0.4 per cent to 0.5 per cent. Asia ended mixed with Nikkei dropping over 1 per cent, and Shanghai Composite adding 0.5 per cent.