Sensex, Nifty Come Off Record, US Fed Meet up in Focus

Mumbai: The benchmark Sensex lay low in the early session on Tuesday as it dropped from its record level, in keeping with subdued Asian markets.

For now, investors are keenly watching the US central bank that kicks off its two-day monetary policy meet. The wider NSE Nifty too slipped from its all-time high.

The BSE 30-share barometer fell by 66.99 points, or 0.20 per cent, to 33,199.17. Yesterday, it had closed at an all-time high of 33,266.16.

It had gained 876.19 points in the past six sessions. The NSE Nifty fell by 22.60 points, or 0.21 per cent, to trade at 10,341.05. It had closed at a record high of 10,363.65 on Monday.

Propensity to take profit, lower-than-expected quarterly earnings by some companies and a weak trend at other Asian markets somewhat made mood downbeat. Wall Street retreated as investors turned cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve policy meeting outcome this week.

Infosys, Coal India, Lupin and SBI were major losers. Stock of LIC Housing Finance fell 1.17 per cent to Rs 612.05 after the company yesterday reported a marginal decline of 1.13 per cent in its net profit for the second quarter.

However, gains in Axis Bank, Tata Steel, HDFC Ltd, Hindustan Unilever, Wipro and Hero MotoCorp cushioned the fall.

Most Asian markets were lower in their early trade.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.14 per cent, Japan's Nikkei 0.36 per cent and Shanghai Composite 0.29 per cent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.36 per cent lower yesterday.