Key equity benchmarks ended marginally higher, rising for the second straight day. Steep gains were capped amid worries about slowing economic growth and mixed cues from other Asian shares. Firmness in auto and banks shares was nullified by weakness in IT and pharma stocks.

The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 38.8 points or 0.1% to 37,350.33, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 index rose 18.4 points or 0.17% to 11,047.80, as per the provisional closing data.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.1%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.11%.

The market breadth was almost even. On the BSE, 1200 shares rose and 1293 shares fell. A total of 148 shares were unchanged.

The equity markets were closed on Thursday, 15 August 2019, on account of Independence Day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for treating wealth creators with respect. "Those who create wealth for the nation, those who contribute to the nation's wealth creation are serving the nation. We should not suspect them and we should not treat them with disdain. It is important that those who create wealth in the country should be given respect and encouraged. They should be given pride of place. If wealth is not created, it will not be distributed. If wealth is not distributed, then the poor cannot benefit. Therefore, wealth creation is critical for a country like us and we want to encourage that. To me, those who are engaged in creating wealth are the country's wealth," the PM said in his Independence Day speech.

On the equity front, UPL (up 4.08%), Yes Bank (up 3.98%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 2.84%) and GAIL (India) (up 2.76%) powered the indices higher.

Trent was in the spotlight as the stock advanced 5.06% to Rs 467.05. It hit a 52-week high of Rs 476 today.

TCS (down 1.37%), Vedanta (down 1.09%) and Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries (down 0.8%) declined.

Indiabulls Group shares came under selling pressure after credit ratings firm Moody's revised the corporate family rating of Indiabulls Housing Finance to "Ba2" from "Ba1".

Indiabulls Housing Finance (IBH) (down 0.57%), Indiabulls Integrated Services (down 0.95%) and Indiabulls Ventures (down 1.72%) declined.

Moody's has also downgraded the company's foreign-currency senior secured rating to Ba2 from Ba1, foreign- and local- currency senior secured MTN program ratings to (P)Ba2 from (P)Ba1. The international rating agency has changed the outlook to negative from stable. Moody's said that the downgrade reflects renewed pressure on the cost and availability of funds for IBH and certain other finance companies in India.

Private sector bank stocks moved higher. IndusInd Bank (up 2.76%), RBL Bank (up 2.38%), Axis Bank (up 1.92%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 0.6%), ICICI Bank (up 0.59%) and AU Small Finance Bank (up 0.24%) gained. HDFC Bank (down 0.28%) declined.

State-run lender State Bank of India was up 0.09% to Rs 290.1. The bank announced that its board gave in-principle approval to explore the possibility of diluting the bank's stake in subsidiary, SBI Cards & Payment Services. The proposed stake dilution will happen through IPO route at an opportune time, subject to the approval of RBI and other regulatory agencies in this regard.

IDBI Bank tanked 8.66% to Rs 24.8 after the bank's the bank reported a net loss of Rs 3800.84 crore in Q1 June 2019 over a net loss of Rs 2409.89 crore in Q1 June 2018. Total Income fell 7.5% to Rs 5923.93 crore in Q1 June 2019 over Q1 June 2018. On a positive side, the bank reported that gross NPA ratio improved to 29.12% as on 30 June 2019 as against 30.78% as on 30 June 2018.

PSU Banks witnessed buying. Punjab National Bank (up 3.51%), Bank of India (up 2.44%), Union Bank of India (up 1.74%), Bank of Baroda (up 1.34%) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (up 0.53%) gained. Syndicate Bank (down 1.88%) and Allahabad Bank (down 0.69%) declined.

Tata Motors slipped 0.08% to Rs 120.75 after CRISIL downgraded company's rating to CRISIL AA-/ on backdrop of weakening of the business risk profile of JLR.

HEG was down 4.93% to Rs 957 after the company's net profit declined 17.3% to Rs 524.42 crore on a 4.2% rise in net sales to Rs 1346.55 crore.

Suzlon Energy gained 5.77% to Rs 4.4 after the company announced its Q1 June 2019 result after market hours on 14 August 2019. The company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 327.16 crore in Q1 June 2019 over a net loss of Rs 572.86 crore in Q1 June 2018. The company's net sales declined 34.5% to Rs 833.15 crore in Q1 June 2019 over Q1 June 2018.

Reliance Capital gained 2.24% to Rs 47.95 after the company reported a robust Q1 2019 result. On consolidated basis, the company's net profit rose 313% to Rs 1218 crore on 31.07% surge in total income to Rs 6083 crore in Q1 June 2019 over Q1 June 2018.

Iron ore production major, NMDC announced its production and sales numbers for the month of July 2019. The company's iron ore production rose 37.3% to 1.95 MT in July 2019 as compared to 1.42 MT in July 2018. The company's iron sales also increased 24.22% to 2.41 MT in July 2019 as compared to 1.94 MT in July 2018. The stock is trading 1.77% lower at Rs 102.8.

On the domestic macro front, India's merchandise exports increased 2.2% to $26.33 billion in July 2019 over a year ago. Meanwhile, merchandise imports dipped 10.4% to US$ 39.76 billion. The trade deficit narrowed 27.9% to $13.43 billion in July 2019 from US$ 18.01 billion in July 2018. This data was announced by government after market hours on Wednesday, 14 August 2019.

India's services trade surplus improved 3.4% to $6.79 billion in June 2019 from $6.57 billion in June 2018. As per the data released by the Reserve Bank of India, India's services exports increased 10.0% to $18.55 billion in June 2019 over June 2018. Meanwhile, India's services imports jumped 14.2% to $11.76 billion in June 2019.

Overseas, European stocks were trading higher. London's FTSE 100 opened higher after delay in opening due to a technical glitch. The index now trades 0.34% up.

Asian stocks closed on a mixed note on Friday as investors watched developments in the US-China trade war. In US, the S&P 500 and the Dow gained ground in a late rally on Thursday as upbeat retail sales data offset recessionary fears amid the simmering US-China trade tensions.

Investors and central banks remain concerned though that President Trump's trade war with China is undermining global economic growth after China on Thursday threatened unspecified retaliation against Trump's recent threat to impose more tariffs on its imports from September.

On the data front, U.S. industrial output fell 0.2% in July, the second drop in the past four months, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. Industrial output is only up 0.5% on a year-on-year basis.