Indian equity benchmarks were trading higher in Friday’s afternoon session. The depreciating rupee against the dollar weakened the market sentiments. The rupee slipped 6.5 paise to 82.40 against the dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on account of rising dollar demand by importers and banks. Besides, some fear also prevailed in the markets as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it would hold an additional meeting of the monetary policy committee on 3 November to prepare a report for the government on why it failed to maintain retail inflation below the target of 6% for three consecutive quarters since January.

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The Sensex was trading at 59,900.69, up by 143.85 points or 0.24% after trading in a high-low range of 60,133.17 and 59,746.80. On the index, 21 stocks were advancing and 9 were declining.

The broader indices were trading mixed with the BSE Midcap index down by 0.43% and the Small-cap index down by 0.39%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.28%, Oil & Gas up by 0.98%, Auto up by 0.41%, Industrials up by 0.11% while Metal down by 1.76%, Commodities down by 1.09%, Realty down by 0.75%, Bankex down by 0.67% and Telecommunication down by 0.65% were the top losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

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The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.46%, NTPC 1.70%, Bajaj Finserv 1.21%, Power Grid Corp 1.16% and IndusInd Bank 1.11%. Tata Steel down by 2.69%,  Sun Pharma Industries by 2.16%, ICICI Bank by 1.97%, Tech Mahindra by 1.97%, and Axis Bank by 1.26%, were the top losers on the index.

The Nifty was trading at 17,762.50 up by 25.55 points or 0.14% after trading in a high-low range of 17,838.90 and 17,746.65. On the index, 29 stocks were advancing, against 21 stocks declining.

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The top gainers on Nifty were Apollo Hospital Enterprises up by 2.68%, ONGC 2.47%, Reliance Industries 2.34%, NTPC 1.64% and Bajaj Auto Limited 1.51%. Tata Steel down by 2.74%,  Hindalco by 2.23%,  JSW Steel by 2.11%, Tech Mahindra by 2.09 and Sun Pharma Industries by 2.04% were the top losers on the index.

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Asian markets were trading mostly lower with the Nikkei 225 falling 0.88%, Shanghai Composite losing 2.25%, KOSPI Composite down 0.89%, and Hang Seng slipping 3.89%.