Indian equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 are likely to make a gap-down start on Wednesday amid weakness across global markets, as fears of steep hikes in COVID-era interest rates and resilience of the world economy kept investors on the back foot. Singapore Exchange (SGX) Nifty futures — an early indicator of the Nifty index — fell as much as 209 points or 1.2 percent to 17,466 ahead of the opening bell on Dalal Street.

Globally, investors awaited the release of the Fed's Beige Book, which summarises the state of the world's largest economy, due later in the day.

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