Indian equity benchmarks made a negative start on Wednesday
amid increasing geopolitical tensions following reports of civilian killings in
Poland from Russian missiles. Traders were concerned as government data showed
that India’s merchandise trade deficit widened to $26.91 billion in October as
exports fell sharply by 16.65% year-on-year to $29.78 billion while imports
rose by 6%. The trade deficit stood at $17.91 billion in October 2021.

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After a tepid start, the Sensex declined 118.81 points or
0.19% to 61,754.18 in early trade. The Nifty slipped 37.85 points or 0.21% to
18,354.70.

The broader indices were trading mixed with the BSE Midcap
index fell 0.09% and the Smallcap index up by 0.20%. The top gaining sectoral
indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.62%, TECK up by 0.45%, Industrials up by
0.10%, Auto up by 0.06%, while Metal down by 0.75%, Utilities down by 0.60%,
Realty down by 0.60%, Oil & Gas down by 0.57%, FMCG down by 0.56% were the
top losing indices on BSE.

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Major laggards from the Sensex pack were Tata Steel,
Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finance, Power Grid, Bajaj Finserv, and Asian Paints. Among the gainers were Dr. Reddy’s, Maruti, Tata
Consultancy Services, and UltraTech Cement.

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Asian markets are trading mostly in red with the Straits
Times falling 1.15 points or 0.04% to 3,274.13, Hang Seng slipping 120.47
points or 0.66% to 18,222.65, KOSPI declining 1.22 points or 0.05% to 2,479.11,
Jakarta Composite losing 66.98 points or 0.95% to 6,968.52 and Shanghai
Composite was down by 6.75 points or 0.22% to 3,127.33. On the other hand,
Nikkei 225 rose 41.48 points or 0.15% to 28,031.65 and Taiwan Weighted was up
by 7.93 points or 0.05% to 14,554.24.

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US stock markets ended in positive territory on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the Sensex surged 248.84 points or 0.40% to
settle at 61,872.99, its lifetime high. The Nifty advanced 74.25 points or
0.41% to close at 18,403.40.

Brent crude futures, the international oil benchmark were
trading 0.25% lower at USD 93.63 per barrel.

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According to the stock exchange, foreign Institutional
Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 221.32 crore on Tuesday.