The domestic equity barometers continued to trade with minor losses in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 16,950 mark after hitting the day's high of 17,061.75 in early trade. Media stocks witnessed selling pressure for fifth day in a row.

At 14:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 80.81 points or 0.14% to 57,573.05. The Nifty 50 index lost 45.15 points or 0.27% to 16,940.55.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.62% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was declined 0.83%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 950 shares rose and 2,521 shares fell. A total of 120 shares were unchanged.

Numbers to track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 7.330 from 7.312 previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.2075, compared with its close of 82.3150 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2023 settlement was up 0.05% to Rs 59,014.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.14% to 102.72.

The United States 10-year bond yield advanced 0.80% to 3.556.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2023 settlement was up 31 cents or 0.40% to $78.43 a barrel.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty media index declined 2.12% to 1,641.85. The index slipped 5.85% in past five trading sessions.

Dish TV India (down 5.26%), New Delhi Television (down 4.04%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (down 3.46%), Sun TV Network (down 3.36%) and TV18 Broadcast (down 2.3%) were the top losers.

Among the other losers were Network 18 Media & Investments (down 1.68%), Nazara Technologies (down 1.59%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (down 1.45%), PVR (down 1.4%) and Navneet Education (down 0.11%).

Stocks in Spotlight:

G R Infraprojects declined 4.99%. The company has been emerged lowest bidder (L1) bidder for two projects in Karnataka.

Allcargo Logistics rose 1.37% after the company said it will buy a 30% stake in Gati-Kintetsu Express for Rs 406.71 crore. Post completion of this transaction, Allcargo Logistics will hold 30% stake and Gati will continue to hold the existing 70% stake in GKEPL.