The headline equity indices traded near the flat line in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 17,100 level after hitting day's high of 17,109.45 in early afternoon trade. IT, FMCG and healthcare stocks advanced while realty, media and metal stocks corrected.

At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 23.93 points or 0.04% to 57,949.21. The Nifty 50 index shed 11.30 points or 0.06% to 17,065.60.

The broader market underperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.48% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.64%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,249 shares rose and 2,140 shares fell. A total of 131 shares were unchanged.

Gainers & Losers:

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (up 1.63%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.55%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.41%), Infosys (up 1.31%) and Cipla (up 0.73%) were the top Nifty gainers.

Bajaj Finserv (down 2.47%), Adani Enterprises (down 2.12%), Bajaj Finance (down 1.86%), Hindalco Industries (down 1.78%) and Titan Company (down 1.47%) were the top Nifty losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Emami declined 1.03%. The company announced that its board has approved a share buyback of upto Rs 186 crore at a price not exceeding Rs 450 per equity share via open market route through the stock exchange mechanism.

Tata Steel fell 1.34%. The steel major on Thursday announced that it has acquired the balance 1.35 crore shares (24.06%) of indirect wholly owned subsidiary, Tata Steel Advanced Materials from wholly owned unit, Tata Steel Downstream Products for Rs 17.33 crore.

Lupin added 0.21%. The drug maker on Thursday announced that it has received tentative approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA), Obeticholic Acid Tablets.

Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) gained 1.42% after the company said that Rachana -RVNL joint venture (JV) has received letter of acceptance (LOA) for a project aggregating to Rs 252.21 crore in Gujarat.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) rose 0.45%. IRCTC said that it has signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) for a period of 5 years.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) shed 1.32%. The bank announced that its board will meet on 29 March 2023 to consider the proposal for raising capital through bonds.

Global Markets:

Shares in Europe and Asia declined on Friday, as investors weigh remarks from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who said federal emergency actions to back up failed regional banks could be used again if necessary.

Japan's core inflation reading fell from its January peak of 4.2% to 3.1% year-on-year in February, government data showed Friday. Overall, nationwide inflation was at 3.3% for the month compared to a year ago, also lower than the January print of 4.3%.

Wall Street closed higher on Thursday as market participants were reassured by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's reassurances that measures will be taken to keep Americans' deposits safe.

The Bank of England raised interest rates by a further quarter of a percentage point on Thursday and said it expects the surge in British inflation to cool faster than before. The BoE's nine rate-setters voted 7-2 in favour of a 25 basis-point increase in Bank Rate to 4.25%.