CLOSING BELL
Stock market highlights: Equity investors booked profit on Wednesday ahead of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy outcome, which is due later tonight. The Fed is largely expected to hike the policy rate by 75 basis points, but there is a mild possibility of 100-bps hike as well, analysts said.
That apart, Russian President Vladimir Putin's partial military mobilization in Russia, which has put the country's people and economy on a wartime footing as Moscow's invasion of Ukraine continued, also kept risk appetite in check.
Against these woobly global cues, the S&P BSE Sensex fell around 444 points in the intra-day day. The index recouped some of the losses to end 263 points, or 0.44 per cent, lower at 59,457.
The NSE Nifty50, on the the other hand, bounced back from a low of 17,663.60 to end at 17,718, down 98 points or 0.55 per cent. In the broader market, the Nifty MidCap and SmallCap indices mildly underperformed the frontline indices as they fell 0.7 per cent, and 1 per cent, respectively.
Among sectors, the Nifty FMCG index was the sole gainer, rising 1.2 per cent. The losses, meanwhile, were led by the Nifty Metal index (down 2 per cent), the Nifty Pharma index (1.4 per cent), and the Nifty Oil & Gas index (1.2 per cent).