erased early gains and turned negative by Wednesday afternoon, with the down 241.66 points or 0.29 per cent at 84,424.62 and the declining 63.75 points or 0.25 per cent to 25,775.90 as of 12:45 pm, ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy announcement later in the day.
The Sensex opened lower at 84,607.49 against its previous close of 84,666.28, touching an intraday high of 85,020.34 before sliding to a low of 84,421.29. The Nifty opened at 25,864.05 compared to its previous close of 25,839.65, with the index reaching a high of 25,947.65 and a low of 25,769.10 during the session.
Market breadth remained moderately positive with 2,044 stocks advancing against 1,919 declining on the BSE, while 192 stocks remained unchanged. As many as 63 stocks hit 52-week highs, while 79 touched 52-week lows. A total of 163 stocks were locked in upper circuit and 134 in lower circuit.
Eicher Motors led the Nifty gainers, surging 1.61 per cent to ₹7,237.50, followed by HDFC Life at ₹773.95, up 1.45 per cent, and Hindalco at ₹823.95, gaining 1.36 per cent. Tata Steel added 0.85 per cent to trade at ₹162.03, while Adani Ports rose 0.58 per cent to ₹1,505.90.
IndiGo emerged as the top loser, tumbling 2.52 per cent to ₹4,842.50, followed by Eicher Eternal at ₹285.30, down 2.19 per cent. HDFC Bank declined 1.11 per cent to ₹986, Apollo Hospitals fell 1.01 per cent to ₹7,019.50, and Bajaj Finance dropped 0.84 per cent to ₹1,008.20.
Sectoral indices painted a mixed picture, with Nifty Next 50 marginally up 15.70 points or 0.02 per cent at 67,720.15, while Bank Nifty slipped 284.75 points or 0.48 per cent to 58,937.60.
Nifty Midcap 100 fell 333.10 points or 0.56 per cent to 59,343.10, Nifty Financial Services declined 152.40 points or 0.55 per cent to 27,397.35, and Nifty Smallcap 100 dropped 65.55 points or 0.38 per cent to 17,180.25.