The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Wednesday closed lower for the second consecutive session at heavyweights dragged the market. Analysts believe widespread sell-off in global markets impacted domestic markets. There was apprehension in anticipation of the upcoming announcement from the US Federal Reserve, which further weighed down market sentiment.
At 3.30 PM, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 796 points or 1.18 per cent at 66,800.84, while the Nifty declined 231.90 points or 1.15 per cent to 19,901.40.
On the 30-share platform, HDFC Bank ( down 4 per cent), JSW Steel, Reliance, UltraTech Cement, and Tata Steel were among the top losers. On the flip side, PowerGrid, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, and NTPC took the lead.
The major losers on the Nifty50 included HDFC Bank, JSW Steel, Reliance Industries, BPCL, and SBI Life Insurance, while the gainers were Power Grid Corporation, Coal India, ONGC, Sun Pharma, and Asian Paints.
Sectorwise, all sectoral indices, except for power, ended in red, with heavy selling in the banking, metal, and realty sectors.
In the border market, the BSE midcap index saw a decline of 0.30 per cent, and the Smallcap index declined by 0.5 per cent.
Markets remained closed on Tuesday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi. In the previous trade session on Monday, the S&P BSE Sensex declined 241 points to 67,596.84. On the other hand, the Nifty settled almost 60 points lower at 20,133.30.
In Asian markets, indices mostly declined as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of the upcoming interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve later in the day. European markets were trading positively, as per reports.
Major indices across Asia were also trading lower, ranging from 0.1 percent to 0.7 percent down, as per a Business Standard report. Overnight, US indices also declined up to 0.3 per cent.
The report also noted that analysts had been cautioning about looming near-term risks, such as rising crude oil prices, an increase in US Treasury yields, and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) engaging in selling activities.
The Federal Reserve is widely anticipated to maintain its current interest rates, but market participants are keenly awaiting updates on the US central bank's economic outlook through the release of economic projections. Notably, apart from the US Federal Reserve meeting, the Bank of England (BoE) and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) are also slated to convene this week.
In the meantime, China decided to keep its one-year and five-year loan prime rates unchanged on Wednesday, with rates at 3.45 per cent and 4.2 per cent, respectively. This decision was in line with expectations, reflecting signs of economic stabilization and a diminishing need for immediate monetary easing.
The Brent crude oil price, which had recently surpassed $96 per barrel, was trading around $93 per barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, declined by 1.23 per cent to reach $93.18 per barrel, despite ongoing supply concerns stemming from production cuts announced by Saudi Arabia and Russia.
The rupee ended 19 paise higher at 83.08 per dollar on Wednesday versus Monday's close of 83.27. Following the decline in four sessions, at the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened strong at 83.22 against the dollar and traded in the range of 83.27-83.06 against the greenback, reported PTI.
A gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies also known as the dollar index rose 0.14 per cent to 104.68.
As per the exchange data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Monday as they sold shares worth Rs 1,236.51 crore.