At close, the Sensex was down 152.18 points or 0.29% at 52,541.39, and the Nifty was down 39.90 points or 0.25% at 15,692.20, as investors booked profit ahead of the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, due later tonight. Bajaj Finserv was up 4.24% as the best performing Sensex stock, followed by Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, and L&T. In the red were NTPC, Infosys, Reliance Industries, and HUL. About 1730 shares have advanced, 1484 shares declined, and 143 shares are unchanged. The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices added around 0.5 percent each. Sectorally, the Nifty Auto index, capital goods, and pharma gained the most and closed nearly a percent higher, while the Nifty Metal fell 0.7 percent, While selling is seen in the power, IT, oil & gas, realty, and FMCG. India VIX ended in the red