Markets continued to remain range bound in late trades on Thursday as gains in pharma and capital goods shares helped offset losses in index heavyweights.

India which deferred the talks with the European Union on the proposed free trade agreement expressing disappointment and concern over the EU banning sale of around 700 pharma products clinically tested by GVK Biosciences also aided sentiment.

National Stock Exchange (NSE) has tied up with the National Savings Institute (NSI) of the Department of Economic Affairs for conducting awareness programmes to aid in the distribution of the National Savings Schemes (NSS). The distributors of NSS who operate through post offices and select banks will be educated on financial concepts like savings with a particular focus on exchange-traded funds.

"The initiative is expected to help them to take additional financial markets' products like Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) to the masses," said a release from the exchange.

The BSE Sensex ended 115.13 pts down at 28,071.93 after RBI kept the policy rates unchanged. NSE Nifty closed 26.15 points down at 8,516.90.

Asian Paints, BPCL, Bank of Baroda were among top gainers in the Nifty. Stocks of Idea, Cairn, ONGC and GAIL were among the top losers in the Nifty.

The BSE Sensex continued to trade in the positive terrain and was trading over 100 points up on Monday despite muted Asian markets.

At 2.14 pm, Sensex was up 117.06 points at 28,231.62. Similarly, Nifty was up 24.75 points at 8,557.60 during the same time.

The Indian stock market remains one of the most expensive in the emerging world, adjusted for the expected pick-up in corporate earnings in the next 12-months.

The bechmark Nifty is trading at a price to earning growth (PEG) ratio of 0.73, ahead of the indices of other emerging markets such as Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and South Africa. Only the Shanghai Composite Index is more expensive than Indian markets at a PEG ratio of 0.81. The S&P BSE Sensex is marginally cheaper at a PEG ratio of 0.69.

BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty after an early bounce back were just managing to hold in green in the early noon session. There were bouts of profit taking that were restricting any major gains and consistency in the markets.

Yes Bank and Vedanta stocks gained ahead of their First Quarterly of the financial year.

Shares of Punjab National Bank rose over 6 per cent on its first quarter net profit of current fiscal.

At 2:30 pm, Punjab National Bank stocks traded 4.62 per cent up on BSE. On NSE, PNB stocks rose 5.03 per cent.

Markets extended losses in noon trade on Monday tracking a sharp sell-off in Chinese stocks. Further, the review of P-Notes norms by market regulator Sebi and issue of levying minimum alternate tax (MAT) on foreign portfolio investors continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

At 13:08PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 429 points at 27,684 and the 50-share Nifty was down 126 points at 8,396.

BSE Sensex ended 258.53 points down at 28,112.31 while NSE Nifty fell 68.25 points to settle at 8,521.55

At 3:10 pm, BSE Sensex trades 264.81 down at 28,106.03. NSE Nifty trades 74.10 points down at 8,515.70.

At 3:00 pm, BSE Sensex trades 219.32 down at 28,151.52. NSE Nifty trades 55.50 points down at 8,534.30.

Benchmark indices continue to trade in the negative zone due to persistent selling on the back of weak corporate earnings amid weakness in the global peers.

At 12:15 PM, the Sensex was lower by 84 points at 28,286 and Nifty slipped by 20 points at 8,569.

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