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.

The Sensex started the day on a positive note, opening nearly 170 points higher at 74,270 and rising to an intra-day high of 74,392.

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.