Continuing with losses for the second day in a row, the key Indian equity indices on Wednesday gave up all their morning gains to end a volatile trade session in the red as investors booked profits in metals, capital goods and banking stocks.According to market observers, apart from domestic macro-data marring investors' risk-taking appetite, caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy outcome later in the evening kept the global markets on tenterhooks. On a closing basis, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) fell by 47.20 points or 0.46 per cent to 10,192.95 points.The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE closed at 33,053.04 points -- down 174.95 points or 0.53 per cent -- from Tuesday's close.The BSE market breadth was bearish -- 1,747 declines and 927 advances.In the broader markets, the S&P BSE mid-cap index closed lower by 0.84 per cent and the small-cap index by 0.81 per cent."Markets corrected on Wednesday for the second consecutive session. Selling emerged in the afternoon session from the highs of 10,297 which led to the Nifty ending in the red," Deepak Jasani, Head, Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.
"It was a volatile session that saw the Nifty in positive territory in the morningsession. The volatility was due to a slew of domestic economic data and ahead of central bank meetings in Europe and the US, to decide on interest rates," he added.Official data released post market hours on Tuesday revealed that the consumer price index (CPI) inflation in November rose to 4.88 per cent from 3.58 per cent reported for October.Meanwhile, data also showed the country's factory output growth slipped to 2.2 per cent in October, from 4.14 per cent in September, mainly on account of a deceleration in manufacturing and mining outputs.Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said: "Market started off with a positive note despite weak CPI and IIP but volatility emerged towards close led by sluggish global market ahead US Fed policy."Fed is expected to increase rate by 25 basis points which is largely factored by the market but the commentary will be keenly watched as the future rate hike will have an impact on the RBI policy next year."On the currency front, the rupee weakened by four paise to close at 64.44 against the US dollar from its previous close at 64.40.
Provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrips worth Rs 578.65 crore while domestic institutional investors divested in stocks worth Rs 116.48 crore.Almost all the BSE sub-indices ended in the negative territory, except the BSE S&P oil and gas index, which rose by 80.35 points, and the energy index, which closed up 8.82 points.The S&P BSE metal index dipped by 229.16 points, capital goods index by 203.81 points and banking index by 186.42 points.Major Sensex gainers on Wednesday were: Kotak Bank, up 1.43 per cent at Rs 1,014.95; Tata Consultancy Services, up 0.68 per cent at Rs 2,632; ONGC, up 0.44 per cent at Rs 183.75; Dr. Reddy's Lab, up 0.23 per cent at Rs 2,260.80; and Hindustan Unilever, up 0.12 per cent at Rs 1,316.55.Major Sensex losers were: Cipla, down 2.13 per cent at Rs 578.15; Tata Motors (DVR), down 2.11 per cent at Rs 225; Adani Ports, down 1.97 per cent at Rs 393.70; State Bank of India, down 1.62 per cent at Rs 313.25; and ICICI Bank, down 1.42 per cent at Rs 303.05.