Closing Bell: Equity benchmarks declined in initial trade on Wednesday after rallying in the past two days amid mixed trends in global markets and foreign fund outflows. The equity markets closed flat with Nifty settling at 18,122 while Sensex Slips 17 Points or 0.03 percent at 60,910.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 213.66 points to 60,713.77. Midcap Index Gains 42 points to 31,326 while Nifty Bank slips 32 points or 0.07 percent to 42,828.  The broader markets closed primarily in green, with Nifty Microcap 250 gaining 0.6 percent.

Rupee ends at 82.86 against the US Dollar. Oil & gas and power indices gained 1 percent each.

Oil dipped amid thin liquidity as investors weighed the fallout from a Russian ban on exports to buyers that adhere to a price cap.

Also read: Opening Bell: SGX Nifty Indicates An Opening In Red For Indian Market

Bitcoin price today continued to decline with the world’s largest and most popular digital token trading over a per cent lower at $16,647. The global cryptocurrency market cap today remained below the $1 trillion mark, as it was down in the last 24 hours to $839 billion.

On the other hand, Ether, the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain and the second largest cryptocurrency, was almost down 2 percent at $1,197. Meanwhile, dogecoin price today was trading over 4 percent lower at $0.07 whereas Shiba Inu was down 2 percent at $0.000008.

US markets ended with losses. S&P 500 fell by 15.57 points or 0.40 percent to 3,829.25 while Nasdaq Composite was down 144 points or 1.38 percent at 10,353.20 on losses incurred by Tesla. Meanwhile, Dow 30 finished at 33,241.60, up 37.63 points or 0.11 percent.

Asian benchmark indices traded mix. The equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo were trading lower, while Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted in the green.

Tokyo shares closed lower on Wednesday, following falls in US high-tech shares and with investors treading carefully after Tokyo’s announcement on Covid-19 test requirements for travelers from mainland China.

The broader Topix index slipped 0.06 percent, or 1.13 points, to 1,909.02. Nikkei 225 of Japan dipped 107.37 points or 0.41 percent at 26,340.50. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose by 305.85 points or 1.56 percent to 19,898.91.

China’s Shanghai Composite closed at 3,087.57, up 8 points or 0.26 percent. It ended in the negative territory.

South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 54.57 points or 2.34 percent to 2,278.22.

FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50 Index fell 121.02 points or 1.11 percent to 10,763.22.