Mumbai: The markets closed weak on Wednesday with the BSE Sensex losing 91 points, even as all eyes are on US Federal Reserve meeting.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share bellwether settled the day 17,287.31, a loss of 91.15 points, or 0.52 per cent, from its previous close.

The Sensex had surged to the day's high of 17,480.70 (a rise of 102 points) in early trade.

The broader 50-share SP CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also fell by 29.60 points, or 0.57 per cent, to close at 5,165.90 from its last close.

Marketmen said investors today were so much cautious that even better-than-expected Q4 earnings announced by blue-chip companies Reliance Communications, the largest telecom services provider, and HDFC, market leader in mortgage lending, failed to trigger any major buying support.

Sluggish trend in Asian and European markets during the day also cast shadow on market sentiments.

They said investors' unwillingness to enlarge positions also was due to continued concerns over high inflation rate, which forced the government and the Reserve Bank to take many fiscal and monetary measures.

Heavyweight stock Reliance Industries was down 1.44 per cent, HDFC 2.66 per cent, DLF 2.84 per cent, HDFCBank 2.11 per cent, Grasim 2.81 per cent, ICICI Bank by 2.43 per cent and ONGC 1.84 per cent.

Source : Agencies