Indian equity benchmarks continued their trade lower in morning deals, dragged by Metal, Healthcare and FMCG stocks amid a largely negative trend in Asian markets. Traders remained cautious with private report that India's headline retail inflation is expected to have crashed past the upper bound of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) 2-6 percent tolerance band in July on its way to a nine-month high due to a surge in vegetable prices. Traders also remained on sidelines ahead to the Industrial Production data to be out later in the day for more directional cues. Traders also took a note of report stating that tagging a genuine exporter as 'risky' will hurt India's exports and an inter-ministerial committee comprising representatives from finance and commerce ministries is required to consider all aspects before branding them under this category. On the global front, Asian markets are trading in red even after new inflation and labor market data from the United States reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will pause interest rate hikes at the next policy meeting.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65450.11, down by 238.07 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 65391.51 and 65727.80. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.33%, while Small cap index was up by 0.23%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.64%, Industrials up by 0.46%, Capital Goods up by 0.37%, Realty up by 0.33% and Power up by 0.24%, while Metal down by 0.60%, Healthcare down by 0.49%, FMCG down by 0.44%, Bankex down by 0.42% and Oil & Gas down by 0.25% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 3.99%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.95%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.48%, Tata Motors up by 0.38% and Titan Company up by 0.35%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 1.36%, Indusind Bank down by 1.19%, Sun Pharma down by 1.19%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.12% and NTPC down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya has said India is set to become the global hub of medical technology and devices with the market size estimated to reach $50 billion by 2050. 

Mandaviya said that the medical device sector is considered as one of the sunrise sectors in the country and the Government under the Prime Minister is taking every possible step to make India a manufacturing hub for medical devices. He added 'From a market share of 1.5 per cent, we hope to increase India's market share to 10-12 per cent share over the next 25 years.'

Further, he stated that ‘With effective implementation of the recently unveiled National Medical Devices Policy 2023, we are confident of fostering the Medical Devices Sector growth from present $11 billion to $50 billion by 2030.’ Besides, he said that ‘earlier, we looked at different segments of the health sector including Pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices in silos. Under the Modi Government, India is taking a holistic approach to health with a vision to transform the health landscape in the country by 2047.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19471.05, down by 72.05 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 19452.85 and 19557.75. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 3.90%, Apollo Hospital up by 1.18%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.01%, Titan Company up by 0.65% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.45%. On the flip side, Divi's Lab down by 1.52%, JSW Steel down by 1.40%, Indusind Bank down by 1.18%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.17% and Sun Pharma down by 1.14% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 9.02 points or 0.05% to 16,625.68, Hang Seng declined 119.72 points or 0.63% to 19,128.54, Shanghai Composite weakened 38.74 points or 1.2% to 3,215.82, KOSPI dropped 2.47 points or 0.1% to 2,599.09, Jakarta Composite plunged 22.22 points or 0.32% to 6,871.06 and Straits Times fell 40.39 points or 1.23% to 3,282.54.