Markets settle lower dragged by IT stocks ahead of US Fed decision

Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower on Wednesday, after hitting fresh record high levels during the morning trade, dragged by IT stocks as investors preferred to book profits ahead of the keenly-awaited US Fed's decision on interest rates.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 131.43 points or 0.16 per cent to settle at 82,948.23.

During the day, it climbed 246.72 points or 0.29 per cent to scale a new all-time intra-day peak of 83,326.38.

The NSE Nifty also declined 41 points or 0.16 per cent to close at 25,377.55.

During the day, it advanced 63.65 points or 0.25 per cent to hit a fresh intra-day lifetime high of 25,482.20.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies dropped over 3 per cent each. Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma and Tata Motors were the other major laggards.

Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India were among the biggest gainers.

In Asian markets, Tokyo and Shanghai settled higher. Trading was closed in Hong Kong for a national holiday.

"The Indian market experienced a minor profit-booking with underperformance by midcaps.

“Mixed signals from global markets emerged ahead of the anticipated FOMC rate cut decision which is seemingly priced in a 25-bps cut," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Tuesday as they bought equities worth Rs 482.69 crore, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.63 per cent to $72.50 a barrel.