The trends on Gift Nifty also indicate a flat start for the Indian benchmark index. The Gift Nifty was trading around 22,550 level, a discount of nearly 14 points from the Nifty futures’ previous close.

Sensex opened about 170 points higher and Nifty started trading on Wednesday about 40 points above its Tuesday close.

Despite sharp selling on Wall Street, the decline in Sensex and Nifty is at a slower pace. On March 12, broad-based selling was recorded across indices including midcap and small-caps. IT stocks were the worst hit.