Sensex, Nifty cautious ahead of US Fed meet

The BSE Sensex opened 112 points lower and turned rangebound today amid losses in metal, healthcare, realty, consumer durables and banking counters, ahead of the US Fed's key policy meet that begins later in the day.

A weak trend in other Asian markets, following overnight losses Wall Street, dampened market sentiment here, brokers said.The 30-share barometer fell 112.26 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 32,810.86 in opening session.

The gauge, however, turned positive to trade 42.34 points, or 0.13 per cent, higher at 32,965.46. It had lost 994.82 in the previous five sessions.

The NSE Nifty also opened 45.15 points, or 0.44 per cent, lower at 10,049.10.

Sectoral indices led by metal, healthcare, realty, consumer durable and banking stocks were trading in the negative terrain, falling by up to 1.38 per cent.

The



laggards were Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Kotak Bank, M&M, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma and ITC, falling up to 1.42 per cent.

Tata Steel, Adani Ports, Tata Motors and Infosys were among the top gainers, rising up to 3 per cent.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 191.52 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 292.23 crore on yesterday, provisional data released by the stock exchanges showed.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.72 per cent, Japan's Nikkei shed 0.09 per cent, while Shanghai Composite Index down 0.26 per cent in their early deals.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.35 per cent lower as technology firms are hit by worries about regulation in light of the Facebook data breach scandal yesterday.