The Sensex and the Nifty ended the session marginally in the red as investors remained cautious ahead of the outcome of Fed policy meet that will end today. The central bank is expected to again scale back its monthly bond-buying programme.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 48.39 points or 0.22 per cent at 22,417.80 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 5.15 points or 0.08 per cent at 6,710.10.

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index fell the most by 5.3 per cent, followed by power 2.08 per cent, capital goods 2.03 per cent and consumer durables 2.00 per cent. On the other hand, auto, FMCG and oil & gas indices remained investors' favourite and were up 0.37 per cent, 0.16 per cent and 0.03 per cent, respectively.

Hero MotoCorp, ONGC, Dr Reddy's, Tata Motors and HDFC were the top five Sensex gainers, while the top five losers were Tata Power, BHEL, SSLT, Bharti Airtel and L&T.

Prashant Tapse of Mehta group said in a report: “The Fed's two-day policy meeting began on Tuesday, with the central bank expected to again scale back its monthly bond purchase programme. Investors will also be eager to get any guidance on when it might raise interest rates.”

Most European stocks were down ahead of a Federal Reserve decision on monetary policy and data on growth in the world’s largest economy. Most Asian stocks ended higher as investors weighed corporate earnings ahead of the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve report on monetary policy.

A government report on China’s manufacturing activity for April is due tomorrow, which is expected to show improvement.

According to Japan’s industrial output data released today, the production grew less than forecast in March, while factory output growth in South Korea missed analysts’ estimates.

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