Sensex sheds nearly 200 points, Nifty below 11,450; Vedanta slips 4%

NEW DELHI: Domestic equity markets started Wednesday's session on a weak note, extending their decline amid escalating global trade war between US-China, mixed March quarter earnings and uncertainity over general election outcome.

Keeping in line with the negative sentiment, the rupee depreciated by 16 paise against the greenback.

Asian equities tracked Wall Street's slide on Wednesday as the latest developments in the US-China trade conflict fanned fresh fears about global growth, driving support for safe-haven government bonds. China stocks declined 1.4 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.12 per cent and Japan's Nikkei was down 1.5 per cent.

Around the same time, NSE counterpart Nifty50 was trading at 11,442, down 56 points or 0.48 per cent. In the 50 pack index, 12 stocks advanced, 37 declined and one remained unchanged.

The markets would keep an eye on stocks such as Titan CompanyNSE 0.19 %, Dhanlaxmi Bank, Gillette, JK Paper, KEL International, MAS Financial Services, EID ParryNSE -0.37 % and Rain Industries which will report their March quarter results on Wednesday

HCL Tech was the biggest Sensex gainer followed by Power GridNSE 0.70 %, Coal IndiaNSE 0.30 %, IndusInd BankNSE -0.35 %, ICICI BankNSE -0.60 % and Hero MotoCorp.

Meanwhile, Vedanta with a fall of 4 per cent was the worst performing stock. The scrip declined after the firm on Tuesday posted an 8 per cent rise in attributable net profit to Rs 2,615 crore on a consolidated basis against Rs 2,420 crore in Q4 FY18. The company’s earnings and profit margins are likely to remain subdued in the ..