43 stocks on the 50-scrip NSE Nifty were trading in the negative zone
The BSE Sensex started Wednesday's session on a negative note, falling as much as 197 points in early morning deals amid weakness in other Asian markets. Declines were led by metal and PSU banking stocks, down around 1.3 per cent. Investors were cutting bets on the last trading session of March derivatives and the end of financial year 2017-18, brokers said.The National Stock Exchange (NSE) benchmark index Nifty fell 69 points to touch 10,184 on the downside. Top laggards on the NSE Nifty included Hindalco Industries, Vedanta, HPCL and Tata Steel. Equities in the other Asian markets pulled back. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.4 per cent, with tech-heavy Korean shares falling 1.0 per cent. Japan's Nikkei fell 2.1 per cent.