Indian equity benchmarks remained under pressure in the
midday session, amid heavy selling at Banking and Consumer discretionary stocks
along with mixed cues from other Asian markets. Domestic sentiments remained
negative, after reports that with the inflation remaining at an ‘unacceptably
and uncomfortably’ high level, members of the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee
outlined the need for preventing the upward drift of inflation and bringing it
down to the target band, according to minutes of its recent policy meeting.

The Sensex is trading at 59,032.20, down by 613.95 points
or 1.03% after trading in a range of 58,949.10 and 59,402.50. On the index, 4
stocks advanced and 26 stocks declined.

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The broader indices were trading in green with the BSE Mid
cap index down by 1.03% and the Small cap index down by 0.69%. The only gaining
sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.02%, Utilities up by 0.92% and
FMCG up by 0.49%, while Bankex down by 1.67%, Consumer discretionary down by
1.34%, Basic Materials down by 1.32%, Auto down by 1.22% and Healthcare down by
1.17% were the top losing indices on BSE.

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The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.27%,
Hindustan Unilever up by 0.51%, Nestle up by 0.37% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by
0.31%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.93%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down
by 2.63%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.14%, Axis Bank down by 2.13% and Tata
Steel down by 1.91% were the top losers.

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The Nifty is trading at 17,573.70, down by 184.75 points or
1.04% after trading in a range of 17,544.25 and 17,690.05. On the index, 8
stocks advanced and 42 stocks declined.

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The top gainers on the Nifty were ITC up by 1.19%,
Britannia up by 0.96%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.57%, Coal India up by 0.51%
and Tata Consumer Products up by 0.35%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by
3.14%, Apollo Hospital Ent. down by 2.88%, Divi’s Lab down by 2.78%, Kotak
Mahindra Bank down by 2.64% and Hero MotoCorp down by 2.21% were the top
losers.

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Asian markets were trading mixed with Nikkei 225 falling
135.83 points or 0.47% to 28,794.50, Taiwan Weighted dropped 163.64 points or
1.06% to 15,245.14, Jakarta Composite lost 80.29 points or 1.12% to 7,092.14
and KOSPI fell 31.01 points or 1.24% to 2,461.68. On the flip side, Shanghai
Composite gained 12.22 points or 0.38% to 3,270.30, Straits Times advanced
20.80 points or 0.64% to 3,267.31 and Hang Seng increased 39.49 points or 0.2%
to 19,812.52.