The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex on Wednesday ended nearly 100 points lower at 28,901, while the National Stock Exchange Nifty closed 0.25% down at 8,924. Analysts believe anticipation over the Assembly election results in five states affected the indices, along with the March 14-15 United States Federal Reserve policy meeting.

On the BSE index, the State Bank of India gained 0.6%, while TCS and Power Grid were up 0.5% each. Shares of Maharashtra Telecom Nigam Ltd rose 15.7%, backed by news that it may merge with the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. Indian aviation stocks climbed 1.7% (SpiceJet 2.9% and Jet Airways 2.4%) after the Delhi government, in its Budget, announced that it will slash tax on jet fuel to 1% from 25%. Reliance Industries slipped 1.44% after hitting its highest since May 2008 on Tuesday.

In the national index, Bosch, Yes Bank and Kotak Mahindra were among the top gainers, while shares of Idea Cellular, Tata Steel, ONGC and Bhel dropped.

Asian stocks were also affected by the upcoming Federal Reserve policy meet, during which the US central bank is likely to hike interest rates for the second time in a quarter.