Indian equity benchmarks were trading higher on Friday’s afternoon session. Sentiments were positive as Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that the world is looking at India with great confidence. He said this trust has developed after 8 years of painstakingly building up India’s story. However, the growth remained capped amid a private report stating that India suffered an income loss of  $159 billion, 5.4% of its gross domestic product, in the service, manufacturing, agriculture, and construction sectors due to extreme heat in 2021.

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The Sensex was trading at 59,062.63, up by 347 points or 0.59% after trading in a high-low range of 59,590.93 and 59,342.76. On the index, 20 stocks were advancing and 10 were declining.

The broader indices were trading mixed with the BSE Midcap index down by 0.41% and the Small-cap index down by 0.09%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.55%, Financial Services up by 1.13%, Telecommunication up by 0.56%, FMCG up by 0.11%, Oil & Gas up by 0.10%, while Metal down by 0.62%, Power down by 0.52%, Utilities down by 0.34%, Commodities down by 0.32%, Realty down by 0.30% were the top losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

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The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank by 8.30%, Kotak Mahindra Bank by 2.93%, ICICI Bank by 1.18%, Hindustan Uniliver by 1.92% and Ultratech Cement by 1.58%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance lost 2.68%,  Bajaj Finserv 1.40%, Asian Paints 1.10%, Power Grid Corp 0.90%, and Tata Steel 0.94%.

The Nifty was trading at 17,655.55  down by 91.60   points or 0.52% after trading in a high-low range of 17,670.15 and 17,603.70. On the index, 26 stocks were advancing, against 23 stocks declining, while 1 stock was stable.

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The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 8.25%,  Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.99%, ONGC up by 2.51%, ICICI Bank up by 2.33% and Hindustan Uniliver Limited up by 1.99%. Bajaj Finance by 2.56%,  Eicher Motors by 1.63%,  Adani Ports & SEZ by 1.60%, Asian Paints by 1.40 and Bajaj Finserv by 1.40% were the top losers on the index.

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Asian markets were trading mostly lower, KOSPI Composite fell 0.22%, Hang Sang fell 0.28%, Nikkei 225 fell 0.43%, while Shanghai Composite rose 0.13%.