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The BSE Sensex was trading 42 points, or 0.05%, lower at 81,009. The Nifty50 was down 7 points, or 0.03%, trading at 24,803 around 9:19 am.

Gold prices inched higher on Friday, but were set for a weekly loss as investors looked forward to U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for more cues on the scale of a likely September rate cut.

Adani Group is likely to sell a 2.84% stake in Ambuja Cements on Friday through a block deal to raise around ₹4,200 crore. According to a term sheet issued by the banker, Holderind Investments, an Adani Group entity, will sell 69.96 million shares at a floor price of ₹600 per share. The floor price represents a 5% discount to Thursday's closing price of ₹633. Shares of Ambuja Cements have rallied 18% so far this year, compared to a 12% gain in the Sensex.

Power Finance Corp (PFC) has committed about ₹21,000 crore toward helping build India's largest ever container port, the Vadhavan Port along the western coast, people aware of the development told ET. The big-ticket sanction comes almost two months after the union cabinet's approval of the ₹76,220-crore mega port project to be developed at Palghar district in Maharashtra. The project is to be developed by the Vadhavan Port Project Ltd, a special purpose vehicle formed by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority and the Maharashtra Maritime Board. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Maharashtra on August 30 for its foundation stone laying ceremony.

Formula 1 race, Max Verstappen is clear he doesn't want to stick around for No. 400. At the age of 26, Verstappen is the youngest F1 driver to reach the 200-race milestone, and he's doing it in front of his home crowd at the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday. «No,» Verstappen said bluntly, when asked Thursday if he could imagine another 200 F1 races — equivalent to just over eight more seasons — in his future. «So we passed halfway for sure, but it's been already of course an incredible ride,» he added. «It doesn't feel like 200, but of course we're doing a lot of races now in a year, so you add them quite quickly.»

Audi. Balbir Singh Dhillon, head, Audi India, said while the company is considering introducing more electric car models in the domestic market, and exploring the possibility of assembling them locally, policy continuity is required to make investments viable. He emphasised that subsidies are needed to drive growth in the EV segment, «till the time we reach a decent penetration level». «There is no science behind this; it's just a gut feeling that, maybe by the time we reach 50% EV penetration in the luxury space, we need that support (lower GST) and thereafter, it is driven by itself,» he said.

Uddhav Thackeray, who leads his own faction of the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray Sena, has asked Congress and Nationalist Congress Party Sharadchandra Pawar that the Chief Minister's face be decided among the allies prior to the assembly elections, even if the name is not publicly announced. Uddhav Thackeray has communicated this to the Congress and NCP leaderships. Thackeray is attempting to push the two parties to either select a candidate for the Chief Minister's job or simply accept his name for the position by continually bringing it up in meetings with them and reiterating it publicly. «I don't want our experience with the BJP to be repeated. We had been together for 25-30 years, and we agreed that the party with the most seats would become Chief Minister.

Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in poll-bound Maharashtra, and the party, which has won the largest share of Lok Sabha seats among the allies, will also «keep an open mind» while discussing key issues such as the question of MVA leadership as well its seat-sharing formula, Ramesh Chennithala, AICC in-charge of Maharashtra, said on Thursday. «Let me make it clear that the Congress party in Maharashtra is fully committed to the coalition dharma. The Congress party will have no big brother attitude within the MVA coalition and we will work amicably with our allies on MVA's election preparations, including on seat-sharing matters,» Chennithala told ET. His comments came in the backdrop of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray stating that MVA should have a chief ministerial face in the October assembly polls in Maharashtra even as he disproved the practice of reserving the slot for the largest coalition partner.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday as dividend of the Repco Bank, a Government of India enterprise functioning under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Shah congratulated the Repco Bank on achieving the remarkable feat of registering a stellar 11-per cent growth rate in the financial year 2023-24.

India may allow certain foreign investors to raise capital in rupees for investments in select countries, a government official said, in a move aimed at boosting the international use of the South Asian nation's currency. The plan comes after Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in July the nation will simplify its foreign direct investment and overseas investment rules to promote opportunities for use of the Indian rupees as a currency for overseas investments. The new provision could enable investments in rupees in select nations of «strategic interest» to India, said the official with direct knowledge of the plans.

BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday took a dig at Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren after JMM leader Champai Soren hinted at forming a new political party and hinted at possible future alliances. Chouhan accused Hemant Soren of being responsible for the current state of affairs in Jharkhand and stated that he deceived many people, including his own relatives — «aisa koi saga nahi jisko Hemant Soren ne thaga nahi.» «Now whatever is being done is done by Hemant Soren. He (Champai Soren) expressed his pain. He is one of the founders of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha who worked hand in hand with Shibu Soren...Due to Hemant Soren's behaviour, Sita Soren was in the same condition earlier. 'Aisa koi saga nahi jisko Hemnat Soren ne thaga nahi'...Champai ji has said everything, BJP has nothing to do with this,» Chouhan said.

Goods and Service Tax Appellate Authority has reduced Bharti Airtel’s GST demand to Rs 194 crore from the original Rs 604.66 crore as assessed by the tax authorities after the telco challenged it. The matter pertains to the demand for Goods and Service Tax (GST) of Rs 604.66 crore by the GST Department under the reverse charge mechanism on license fee and spectrum usage charges basis the demand note issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). After getting the demand, the company filed an appeal against it. Following the appeal, the Appellate Authority has now passed an order.

Harindarpal Singh Banga and wife Indra Banga are likely to sell a 1.4% stake worth Rs 809 crore on Friday through block deals. According to the term sheet issued by the bankers, the Bangas plan to sell 4.09 crore shares at a floor price of Rs 198 apiece, which represents a 5.9% discount to Thursday’s closing price of Rs 210. Harindarpal was an early investor in Indian billionaire Falguni Nayar’s fashion giant Nykaa and held a 6.4% stake. He founded The Caravel Group, a global conglomerate primarily engaged in resources trading, maritime services, and asset management.

consumer goods (FMCG) company Dabur India Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Tamil Nadu to set up a consumer goods manufacturing facility in the state, it said in a statement on Thursday. The phase-1 investment is approved at Rs 135 crore, which will increase to Rs 400 crore over a five-year period, the maker of Vatika shampoo and Real juice said. Dabur chief executive Mohit Malhotra said in a statement: “This investment will allow us to better serve the growing demand for our products in South India and strengthen our market presence in the region.” He said the development would enable economic development in the state by creating jobs and working closely with local vendors and supplier partners. This will be the company's first unit in South India, it said. This location will help meet business and logistical requirements efficiently and offer significant advantage and growth opportunities, Malhotra added. It is expected to create around 250 direct job opportunities and thousands of indirect employment opportunities.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPA) will scale up its container handling capacity to 10 million twenty foot equivalent unit (TEU) by April next year, said Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said. In H1FY25, JNPA handled 7.4 million TEUs, and this capacity is expected to increase to 10.4 million TEUs by April next year. In the fiscal year 2023-2024, the port handled 6.4 million TEUs. «Jawaharlal Nehru Port has become the first 100 percent landlord port in the country,» Sonowal said, adding that «accordingly we are aiming for bigger and bigger ships at this facility.»

Domestic benchmark index NSE Nifty ended 41.3 points up at 24811.5, while the BSE Sensex closed 147.89 points up at 81053.19.

demand from local banks and corporates. A moderate rise in the dollar index also added to the weakness in the rupee. The local currency ended weaker by 3 paisa, ending at 83.95 versus the US dollar, as against its previous close of 83.922/$1, LSEG data showed. The rupee moved in a tight band of 83.937/$1 and 83.965/$1 on Thursday.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in a letter to Prime Minister Modi, requested the formation of a 'stringent central legislation ' to fight against the rising cases of rape in India. Alapan Bandyopadhyay, Chief advisor to the West Bengal CM, on Thursday revealed that the TMC Supremo urged PM Modi to take into account the increasing number of rapes throughout the country, and help set-up laws that put an end to such hate-crimes. «Respected Prime Minister, I wish to bring to your kind attention the regular and increasing occurrence of rape cases throughout the country and in many cases rapes with murder are committed according to the available data, it is horrifying to see that almost 90 cases of rapes occur daily throughout the country,» the letter read by Bandyopadhyay stated.

markets regulator SEBI to raise Rs 4,000 crore ($480 mn) through an initial public offering (IPO). The offer comprises fresh issue of shares worth Rs 1,250 crore and offer-for-sale shares worth Rs 2,750 crore.

tax disputes with major companies including Infosys Ltd. and foreign airlines, people familiar with the matter said, suggesting New Delhi is open to making accommodations to avoid hurting investor sentiment in the South Asian nation. Authorities are exploring options to settle with companies including Infosys, which last month got hit by a demand for 324.03 billion rupees ($3.9 billion) in back taxes dating back to 2017, the people said. Authorities at the time cited non-payment of taxes on expenses incurred by overseas offices of the company, which provides IT services to banks and other multinational corporations from the US to Europe. Also Read: Infosys accused of Rs 32,000-crore GST evasion: Here are 10 things to know

«There are forces determined to disrupt the election process, but we are fully prepared, and the ballot is the answer to such forces,» said Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar after briefing election observers for Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana. Speaking to ANI, Kumar stated, «We briefed election observers today. General, Police, and Expenditure Observers from several states attended the briefing. Observers were instructed to be available to political parties and candidates to address any grievances and ensure adherence to election rules.»