At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened strong at 75.65 against the American dollar but soon entered the negative territory as investors dumped riskier assets. During the session, it swung between a high of 75.62 and a low of 75.97.

The Nifty Pharma index closed 0.19 per cent down at 13745.6.

Ahead of the monthly F&O expiry on Thursday, the index settled at 17,498.25, up 172.95 points or 1 per cent.

“We have got a big plan to penetrate Bharat. As of March, we saw some businesses coming back. For the first time, we saw the pre-Covid levels getting crossed but still those are inflation-led growth and not quantitative growth. We hope to see some more quantum growth coming in the next financial year.”

“Banks as a sector should do well going forward this year. Apart from banks, we are very positive on telecom as a sector because we have seen strong growth continuing there. Further, we are also bullish on consumer discretionary as there is a very strong pent up consumer spending ability.”

The S&P/ASX 200 ended up 0.7% at 7,514.5, marking a seventh straight session of gains.

The Nikkei share average declined 0.8% to 28,027.25, ending the day above the psychological 28,000 line after earlier dropping as low as 27,736.27.

The CSE All-Share index declined for a third straight session, falling 6.8% to 8,900 points by 0713 GMT. The index has fallen 26% so far this year after a more than 80% surge in 2021.

The STOXX 600 closed at levels hit before the conflict on Tuesday after peace talks between Russia and Ukraine yielded the most tangible sign of progress toward negotiating an end to the war.

The 30-share pack Sensex advanced, in line with peers across Asia, rising 740.34 points or 1.28% to close at 58,683.99.