Sensex Closes 95 Points Down Ahead of Fed Verdict, Weak Earnings

The stock market erased all its early gains today 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 per cent and wholesale inflation, falling for the third month, was down at 3.15 per cent. 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 per cent.

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 per cent.

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

The NSE 50-share Nifty fell by 39.35 points, or 0.48 per cent, 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 per cent to Rs 292.25 after the company yesterday reported a massive 77 per cent fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs 600 crore for the quarter ended September.

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

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 per cent.

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 per cent to Rs 2,207.90 after Cyrus Mistry was yesterday removed as director with 93.11 per cent shareholders voting for his ouster.

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

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