Equity benchmark indices continued to trade in a positive
trend in the afternoon session amid buying in FMCG, auto and Bankex stocks. On
the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower as concerns increased
that US rate hikes to contain inflation might affect economic growth.

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The Sensex is now trading at 54,779.95, up 309.28 points
or 0.57% after fluctuating between 54,269.59 and 54,814.05. On the index, 19
stocks advanced while 11 stocks declined.

The broader indexes were trading in negative territory,
with the BSE Midcap index down 0.78% and the Small-cap index down 0.33%. On the
BSE sectoral front, Auto was up by 1.20%, FMCG was up by 1.08%, Bankex was up
by 0.75%, telecom was up by 0.45% and Capital Goods was up by 0.29%, while
Utilities was down by 1.87%, Metal was down by 1.74%, Power was down by 1.67%,
Consumer Durables was down by 1.65% and Realty was down by 1.15%.

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The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by
2.63%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.35%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.32%, Asian Paints
up by 2.18% and Indusind Bank was up by 1.99%.

Among the losers were Sun Pharma down by 3.07%, Tata
Steel down by 2.83%, Titan Co down by 1.25%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.72% and
Infosys was down by 0.41% were the top losers.

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The Nifty is presently trading at 16,390.85, up 89.00
points or 0.55% after fluctuating between 16,243.50 and 16,400.05. On the
index, 35 stocks advanced and 15 stocks declined.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 3.17%,
Ultratech Cement up by 2.74%, Asian Paints up by 2.47%, Hindustan Unilever up
by 2.45% and Indusind Bank was up by 2.38%. Among the losers were ONGC down by
3.34%, Tata Steel down by 2.93%, Coal India down by 2.84%, Sun Pharma down by
2.48% and Apollo Hospital was down by 2.02% were the top losers.

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Asian markets were trading mostly in the red with Hang Seng falling 449.98 points or 2.25% to 19,551.98, Straits Times plunging 41.51 points or 1.27% to 3,233.56, KOSPI dropped 14.25 points or 0.55% to 2,596.56, Jakarta Composite trembled 199.98 points or 2.89% to 6,709.77 and Nikkei 225 fell 152.24 points or 0.58% to 26,167.10.

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On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted surged 12.78 points or 0.08% to 16,061.70 and Shanghai Composite rose 23.55 points or 0.78% to 3,027.69.