Mumbai, Sep 18 : India equity indices opened flat on Wednesday following a mixed trend in global markets ahead of the US Federal Reserve monetary policy decision later in the day.

At 9.42 a.m., Sensex was up 38 points or 0.05 per cent at 83,117 and Nifty was up 10 points or 0.05 per cent at 25,430.

In early trade, the markets were led by banking stocks. Nifty Bank was up 237 points or 0.45 per cent at 52,424.

Midcad and smallcap stocks also traded flat. Nifty midcap 100 index was down 6 points at 60,174 and Nifty smallcap 100 index was up 66 points or 0.34 per cent at 19,531.

Among the sectoral indices, Auto, PSU Bank, fin service, FMCG, energy, infra and pvt bank were the major gainers. IT, pharma, metal and realty were the major laggards.

In the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, UltraTech Cement, SBI, Power Grid, ITC, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top gainers. Tech Mahindra, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel and Bharti Airtel were the top losers.

According to the market experts, "The significance of the Fed rate decision expected tonight is evident from the wait-and-watch market mood across the globe yesterday. Perhaps more important than the Fed action would be the Fed commentary and the message. An ideal and possible outcome would be a 25 bp rate cut with a dovish message indicating a series of rate cuts. Good retail sales data along with a weakening labour market point to such a possibility."

"The time is favourable for reducing the exposure to mid and small caps and increasing the exposure to largecaps. This strategy will play out well in the medium to long run," they added.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)/ Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 482.69 crore and Domestic institutional investors bought shares worth a net of Rs 874.15 crore on September 17.

On Tuesday, the domestic equity indices ended with marginal gains. Nifty settled above the 25,400 level after hitting the day's low of 25,352 in morning trade. Sensex was up 90.88 points or 0.11 per cent to 83,079. Nifty rose 34.80 points or 0.14 per cent to 25,418.55.

/IANS