Key benchmarks pared gains in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 170.64 points or 0.45% at 38,042.16. The Nifty 50 index added 56.60 points or 0.51% at 11,189.20.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.76% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.52%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1371 shares rose and 1200 shares fell. A total of 161 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty PSU Bank index rose 1.14% to 1,465.70. The index had lost 1.56% yesterday.

State Bank of India(up 2.47%), Bank of Maharashtra (up 2.16%) and Bank of Baroda (up 1.23%) edged higher while Central Bank of India (down 0.84%) and Bank of India (down 0.20%) edged lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) shed 0.40% to Rs 172.60, extending decline for second day. The stock has lost 3.41% in two sessions.

JSPL reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 268 crore in Q1 June 2020 as against net loss of Rs 87 crore in Q1 June 2019. Net revenue fell 7% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 9,279 crore during the quarter. EBITDA margin stood at 26% in Q1 June 2020 as against 22% in Q1 June 2019.

At the consolidated level, JSPL's steel production rose 4% YoY to 2.03 million tonnes (MT) while steel sales jumped 8% YoY to 2.07 MT in the the reported quarter.

G M Breweries fell 1.44% to Rs 382.80 after the company's consolidate net profit tumbled 85.1% to Rs 2.43 crore in Q1 FY21 from Rs 16.27 crore in Q1 FY20. Net sales declined 76.5% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 27.87 crore during the quarter.

With respect to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on operations, the company said that its operations were allowed to be restarted from 20 May 2020. However, sales of the company's products are still not permitted in Mumbai, Thane, Solapur & some other region, the principal market for company's products. The sale to the markets mentioned herein constitutes to around approximately 80 to 85% of the total company's sale as reported in quarter ended June 2019 & quarter ended March 2020.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 5.806% compared with previous closing of 5.814% in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee remained flat at 74.7550.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for September 2020 settlement rose 30 cents to $44.59 a barrel. The contract shed 0.06% or 3 cents to end at $44.32 in the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 August 2020 settlement gained 1.11% to Rs 50,633.