Sensex closes below 26,700-mark ahead of Fed verdict

Mumbai: The stock market erased all its early gains Wednesday to close in the red at 26,603, in line with subdued global indices, as investors remained tentative ahead of the crucial US Fed policy meet on whether to raise interest rate or not.

Index heavyweight Coal India disappointed on the quarterly earnings front, which too soured mood, brokers said.

Retail inflation for November eased to a two-year low of 3.63 percent and wholesale inflation, falling for the third month, was down at 3.15 percent. But this was not enough to offset the worries as investors keenly waited for the outcome of the US Fed meeting later in the day.

This is the lowest level since November 2014 when the retail inflation was recorded at 3.23 percent.

The Sensex opened higher at 26,707.91 and hovered in a range of 26,736.34 and 26,547.05 before ending at 26,682.45, down 94.98 points, or 0.36 percent.

The gauge had gained 182.58 points in yesterday's trade.

The NSE 50-share Nifty fell by 39.35 points, or 0.48 percent, to close at 8,182.45. Intra-day, it shuttled between 8,229.40 and 8165.10.

Stocks of state-owned Coal India emerged as the top loser among Sensex constituents by plunging 4.42 percent to Rs 292.25 after the company yesterday reported a massive 77 percent fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs 600 crore for the quarter ended September.

Other major losers were ONGC 2.02 percent, Power Grid 1.78 percent, Cipla 1.59 percent, ICICI Bank 1.55 percent, Bharti Airtel 1.50 percent, Hero MotoCorp 1.21 percent, GAIL 1.08 percent, L&T 1.05 percent and SBI 1.05 percent.

The selling in metal, PSU, capital goods and FMCG was offset by buying in IT and realty. Second-line shares smallcap and midcap witnessed some selling and dropped by up to 0.85 percent.

Key indices saw high intraday volatility throughout the session on alternate bouts of buying and selling.

Meanwhile, foreign funds sold shares net worth Rs 2,181.03 crore yesterday, as per the provisional data.

Elsewhere, Asian stocks ended mixed, while European markets showed a mixed trend in their late morning trade ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates.

In the domestic market, 22 scrips ended in the red out of the 30-share Sensex pack while 8 closed in the green.

TCS, the country's leading software exporter, rose 0.32 percent to Rs 2,207.90 after Cyrus Mistry was yesterday removed as director with 93.11 percent shareholders voting for his ouster.

Other gainers were Axis Bank 3.23 percent, RIL 1.93 percent, Infosys 0.91 percent, M&M 0.51 percent, Tata Motors 0.48 percent, Asian Paints 0.34 percent and Wipro 0.31 percent, cushioning the fall.

Among the BSE sectoral and industries, metal fell by 1.70 percent followed by PSU 1.65 percent and capital goods 1 percent while IT rose 0.63 percent, realty 0.50 percent and technology 0.36 percent.