The benchmark indices extended the losing streak for the third consecutive session on Wednesday as investors remained cautious ahead of Fed rate decision outcome.

At close, Sensex was down 502.25 points or 0.62% at 80,182.20, and the Nifty was down 137.15 points or 0.56% at 24,198.85.

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Throughout the day, Nifty reached a peak of 24,394.45 and a low of 24,149.85 while Sensex fluctuated within the range of 80,868.02 and 80,050.07.

On Nifty, the top gainers were Trent (2.48%), Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (2.22%), Cipla (1.49%), Wipro (1.21%), Bajaj Auto (0.69%) while on the losing side were Tata Motors (3.08%), Power Grid Corporation of India (2.50%), Bharat Electronics (2.19%), NTPC (2.09%), JSW Steel (2.07%).

Further on BSE, over 240 stocks touched their 52-week high including, Bharti Hexacom, EID Parry, KPR Mills, Radico Khaitan, Lloyds Metals, Coromandel International, Coforge, Indian Hotels, BLS Internation, Persistent Systems, 360 ONE WAM, Kaynes Technologies, among others.

Barring IT and pharma, all the other sectors ended in red, with Media and PSU Banking being the major laggards.

Pharma was up one per cent, while auto, energy, PSU Bank, metal, media, realty down 0.5-2 per cent.

Steel stocks faced selling pressure as the Karnataka government tabled a bill to tax mines and mining land.

NMDC, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, and SAIL stocks were trading in red, with NMDC stock bearing the brunt of the fall by falling 5 per cent.

Selling pressure was also witnessed in the Broader markets, as Mid and Smallcaps corrected by 0.64% and 0.87%, respectively.

So far in CY24, Nifty 50 and Sensex, delivered positive returns of 11.35 per cent and 11 per cent.

The Indian rupee sank to a new low of 84.94 against the dollar on Wednesday, just 6 paise shy of the 85 mark.

Among the individual shares performances, Swiggy ended over a percent lower as investors rushed to book profits off the stock’s recent bull run.

KFin Technologies share price surged and traded higher by over 7 per cent after Jefferies issued a ‘Buy’ recommendation.

Shares of DroneAcharya zoomed as much as 7 per cent after the company announced it has partnered with Canada-based Volatus Aerospace for Drone Solutions.

DLF traded almost a percent lower to Rs 867 in morning trade, extending losses for a third session in a row, despite CLSA raising the target price.