Equity indices gave up their initial gains on Wednesday and were subsequently trading down in line with sluggish global markets.

The Sensex rose 82.36 points to 59,113.66 in opening trade before falling into negative territory. Similarly, the Nifty rose 27.9 points to 17,605.40 but failed to sustain the pace.

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Later, both of the equity benchmarks were trading lower, with the Nifty sliding 43.95 points to 17,533.55 and the Sensex dropping 146.56 points to 58,884.74.

Asian Paints, Titan, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti, Hindustan Unilever, Nestle, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, and State Bank of India were among the main laggards on the Sensex.

Gainers were IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries, ITC, and Power Grid.

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The National Stock Exchange (NSE) banned the trading of futures and options (F&O) up to zero stock/security on Wednesday, August 24, 2022.

Asian markets are trading mostly in the red with Nikkei 225 slipping 153.70 points or 0.54% to 28,299.05, Straits Times fell 1.22 points or 0.04% to 3,244.99, Hang Seng declined 260.23 points or 1.33% to 19,243.02, Taiwan Weighted lost 19.95 points or 0.13% to 15,075.94, Jakarta Composite weakened 3.14 points or 0.04% to 7,160.13 and Shanghai Composite was down by 45.11 points or 1.38% to 3,231.11, while KOSPI was up by 2.24 points or 0.09% to 2,437.58.

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Wall Street had ended lower on Tuesday with the S&P 500 falling 9.26 points, or 0.2%, to 4,128.73. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 154.02 points, or 0.5%, to 32,909.59, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.27 points, or less than 0.1%, to 12381.30. Stocks of smaller companies held up better than the rest of the market, and the Russell 2000 index ticked up by 0.2%.

On Tuesday, the Sensex rose 257.43 points, or 0.44%, to 59,031.30. The Nifty rose 86.80 points, or 0.5%, to 17,577.50.

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The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 563 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 215.2 crore in the Indian equity market on August 23, as per provisional data available on the NSE.  

Separately, Brent crude, the international oil standard, fell 0.40% to USD 99.82 per barrel. The rupee fell 4 paise to 79.87 against the dollar in early trade on Wednesday, reflecting the strength of the US currency in the international market.