Nifty, Sensex turn cautious, go for flat close

In a climbdown of sorts, the Nifty today rolled off its previous record peak and closed flat, more due to a general sense of caution ahead of US Fed policy call.
Amid lingering worries on the valuation front, even the 30-share Sensex ended near the base line as the Federal Reserve kicks off its two-day policy review meeting.
The central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates untouched. Investors are looking for clues on timing of its balancesheet unwind, if any.
Heavyweights such as Coal India, L&T and SBI ran up losses, taking cues from overseas markets.
The 50-share Nifty scaled a fresh new peak of 10,178.95 (intra-day) at the outset after fresh record closing at Wall Street. But it settled at 10,147.55 -- down 5.55 points, or 0.05 per cent.

The barometer had closed at a life high of 10,153.10 yesterday after hitting intra-day record of 10,171.70.

The flagship BSE index gave in to the propensity to take profit as it hit a low of 32,358.63 before closing down 21.39 points, or 0.07 per cent, at 32,402.37. The gauge had rallied 761.79 points in the last eight straight sessions.
"Market traded on a flat note as investors are turning more cautious on account of the Fed policy meeting. Also, the concern on valuation and lack of supportive cues to outpace the resistance influenced investors to book some profit," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd.

Bourses in Asia weakened and Europe opened lower as investors shifted focus to the Federal Reserve meet, analysts said.
BSE small- and mid-cap indices dwarfed the benchmarks, rising to new highs with gains of 0.36 per cent and 0.13 per cent, respectively.
Coal India, HDFC Ltd, L&T, SBI and Sun Pharma played a big part in the fall, down by up to 2.49 per cent, halting the Sensex's long winning run for eight sessions in succession.
Sector-wise performance was mixed, with the BSE metal index slumping the most by 0.58 per cent, followed by capital goods, healthcare and consumer durables.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) showed support by taking shares worth a net Rs 775.61 crore while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) discarded equities worth Rs 96.92 crore yesterday, according to provisional data.