Indian Shares Extend Losses For Third Day

(RTTNews) - Indian shares ended lower on Wednesday, with key benchmark indexes extending losses for a third straight session as bond yields surged ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision later in the day.

The dollar held steady near a one-week high and the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note hovered near 4.2 percent, its highest level in three months in the run-up to the Fed announcement.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point later today, but there is considerable uncertainty about the longer-term outlook for rates.

Investors will read between the lines, given conflicting trends of a cooling job market and sticky inflation, as well as gaps in the data from the government shutdown.

The benchmark BSE Sensex dropped 275.01 points, or 0.32 percent, to 84,391.27 while the broader NSE Nifty index ended down 81.65 points, or 0.32 percent, at 25,758.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes fell 1.1 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. The market breadth was weak on the BSE, with 2,294 shares falling while 1,895 shares advanced and 148 shares closed unchanged.

Eternal lost nearly 3 percent and Trent gave up 1.7 percent while ICICI Bank, UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra, Infosys and Bharti Airtel all fell around 1 percent. Globally, Asian stocks declined and European markets opened on a cautious note as investors parsed mixed inflation data from China and awaited the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision.

Gold dipped below $4,200 per ounce while oil prices were little changed after declining nearly 3 percent in the last two sessions on concerns about global oversupply.