Despite initial hurdles, Indian equities bourses recovered strength in the afternoon session, trading above 59,100 (Sensex) and 17,650 (Nifty) levels in midday trade. Traders rallied when the governor of the Reserve Bank of India clarified a number of issues relating to economic metrics such as GDP, inflation, and so on in a press conference. Meanwhile, despite growing prices due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the RBI retained its key lending rate at 4.0%, a record low, to encourage post-pandemic economic development. For the eleventh time in a row, the rate stayed steady. At 3.35%, the reverse repo rate stayed constant.

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Asian markets were trading mostly higher with Shanghai Composite gaining 11.40 points or 0.35% to 3,248.10, Nikkei 225 surged 97.23 points or 0.36% to 26,985.80, KOSPI rose 6.26 points or 0.23% to 2,702.12, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 105.91 points or 0.62% to 17,284.54 and Jakarta Composite was up by 61.41 points or 0.86% to 7,188.78. On the other hand, Hang Seng decreased by 81.42 points or 0.37% to 21,727.56 and Straits Times was down by 25.76 points or 0.76% to 3,378.47.

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Sensex is currently trading at 59,141.07, up by 106.12 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 58,876.36 and 59,297.46. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

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The broader indices were trading in green with the BSE Midcap index rising 0.87%, while the Small cap index was up by 0.89%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.69%, Basic Materials up by 1.65%, Utilities up by 1.57%, Metal up by 1.50% and Oil & Gas was up by 1.37%, while IT was down by 0.01% was the only losing indices on BSE.

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The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.47%, Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 1.41%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.35%, Tata Steel up by 1.23% and Reliance Industries was up by 1.04%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra was down by 1.38%, NTPC down by 1.30%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.93%, HDFC Bank down by 0.73% and Sun Pharma was down by 0.65% were the top losers.

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Nifty is currently trading at 17,698.85, up by 59.30 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 17,600.55 and 17,723.60. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

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The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 4.22%, Adani Ports up by 2.83%, SBI Life Insurance up by 2.52%, JSW Steel up by 2.49% and Coal India was up by 1.94%. On the flip side, Cipla was down by 2.48%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.33%, NTPC down by 1.21%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.96% and Sun Pharma was down by 0.79% were the top losers.