Mumbai, March 17 (TIWN) Global cues ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy statement pulled the Indian benchmark equity indices down for the fourth straight session on Wednesday.

After making an initial intraday high, the NSE Nifty50 slipped to close near its intra-day low.

However, healthy FII inflows on Wednesday arrested the fall to some extent. The FIIs had pumped in Rs 2,625.82 crore.

Among sectors, PSU banks, realty, media, metals and pharma fell the most.

Globally, caution descended on world stock markets as investors waited to see whether the US Fed would signal a faster path toward policy normalisation than previously expected.

On the domestic front, concerns over the second Covid wave and weak global cues led to the fall.

At close, the Nifty50 index fell 1.27 per cent, or 189.15 points, to 14,721.30 points.