Mumbai: NSE benchmark Nifty witnessed a range-bound momentum and ended the volatile session with 28 points fall as investors preferred profit-booking in PSU banks, metal and auto stocks.
Investors remained cautious ahead of the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.
Globally, European shares were trading higher, supported by a jump in the shares of oil firm BP, which announced buoyant earnings and a share buyback program.
Most Asian stocks ended on a mixed note following weak closing in the US market.
Anupam Singhi, CEO, MarketSmith India (Part of William O'Neil India) said, "The Indian market frittered away from the promising start and remained in a negative territory throughout the session. The investors remained shy to take new positions in the stocks before the earnings release."
The NSE Nifty opened higher at 10,364.90 and moved in a range of 10,367.70 and 10.323.95 before ending at 10,335.30, a fall of 28.35 points, or 0.27 per cent, from last close.
It saw an intra-day movement of about 43.75 points.
The broader indices bucked the trend, as the Nifty Midcap and Small cap gained 0.12 per cent and 0.49 per cent, respectively.
On the sectoral front, PSU banks fell 2.14 per cent, metal 1.71 per cent, auto 0.49 per cent, media 0.26 per cent, IT 0.15 per cent and energy 0.14 per cent.
However, realty rose by 2.89 per cent, private banks 0.67 per cent, FMCG 0.20 per cent, financial service 0.13 per cent and banks 0.12 per cent.
Major index gainers were Axis Bank, InfraTel, ONGC, HCL Tech, Bharti Airtel, BPCL, Indusind Bank and Hero Motocorp.
Losers included UPL, Vedanta Ltd, Infosys, GAIL, M&M, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Tata Motors, HindPetro and SBIN.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was mildly in favour of gainers. On the NSE, 883 stocks advanced, 851 declined and 77 stock remained unchanged.
Total securities that hit their price bands were 172.
Turnover in the cash segment rose to Rs 35,110.14 crore from Rs 32,986.81 crore on Monday.
A total of 17,880.64 lakh shares changed hands in 11,268,021 trades. The market capitalisation of listed firms on NSE stood at Rs 1,42,08,617.46 crore.
