Indian equity benchmarks the 30-pack Sensex and the broad-based Nifty recouped early losses on August 21 and built on gains as the session progressed. At noon, the Sensex was up 242 points, or 0.39 percent, at 65,191.24, and the Nifty was up 70.80 points, or 0.38 percent, at 19,381.
About 1,885 shares advanced, 1,275 declined and 139 were unchanged.
The Nifty midcap 100 gained over 0.56 percent to top the 38,000 mark. The BSE midcap index also rose 0.6 percent to 38,068.25,with PB Fintech, Zee Entertainment Enterprises and SJVN emerging as top gainers.
The Nifty, however, is still 3 percent and the Sensex 3.5 percent away from the all-time highs hit on July 20. Amid consolidation, the major headwinds for emerging markets are come from the rising dollar and bond yields.
"The US 10-year bond yield at 4.25 percent is a major headwind for equity markets since this risk-free return is hugely attractive, particularly when CPI inflation in the US is down to 3 percent," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.
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Another factor keeping the market sentiment subdued is the offloading of shares by foreign investors. In August, so far, foreign institutional investors have sold shares worth Rs 10,926 crore.
The major market event of the day was the listing of Jio Financial Services. The stock listed at Rs 262 on the NSE and Rs 265 on the BSE, close to its discovered price of Rs 261.85.
At Rs 1.66 lakh crore, Jio Financial Services became the second-largest NBFC by market capitalisation on listing. However, the stock fell 5 percent to Rs 248.90 soon after making its debut. Trading volumes at midday were over 71 million shares.
On the other hand, India's largest listed NBFC Bajaj Finance gained over 2.46 percent. The stock is currently quoting at Rs 7030, around 12 percent away from its 52-week high of Rs 7999.9.
Among other stock specific action, Adani Ports gained over 2.5 percent after GQG Partners acquired additional stake in the company.
GQG Partners, a US-based boutique firm, increased its stake in Adani Ports from 4.93 percent to 5.03 percent through bulk deals on August 17, a regulatory filing on August 19 said.
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