The benchmark indices suffered modest losses during early afternoon trade. The Nifty index holds 17,500 level. Media stocks in demand. 

At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, skid 124.56 points or 0.21% at 58,891.33. The Nifty 50 index lost 64.85 points or 0.37% at 17,520.30. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.45% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.49%. 

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,325 shares rose and 1,876 shares fell. A total of 176 shares were unchanged. 

Investors will continue to focus on the U.S. Federal Reserve's upcoming September meeting for clues on the central bank's tapering of its easy monetary policy. Fed Chair Jerome Powell will hold a press conference on Wednesday at the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve. 

Prospects of tighter U.S. monetary policy and the Delta variant-induced slowdown in global economic growth coupled with possible corporate tax hikes worried the investor community. 

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 22,85,41,037 with 46,91,850 deaths. India reported 3,18,181 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 4,45,133 deaths while 3,27,15,105 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. 

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 7.51% to 16.3775. The Nifty 30 September 2021 futures were trading at 17,517.45, at a discount of 2.85 points as compared with the spot at 17,520.30. 

The Nifty option chain for 30 September 2021 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 18.2 lakh contracts at the 18,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 32.7 lakh contracts was seen at 17,000 strike price. 

The Nifty Media index rose 1.72% to 1,960.65. The index gained 2.71% in two trading sessions. 

Inox Leisure up 5.62%,PVR up 3.64%,Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) up 2%, TV18 Broadcast up 1.48% and Sun TV Network up 0.26% were the major gainers in the Media segment. 

Sobha shed 1.67% after the company announced that Subhash Mohan Bhat resigned for the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) as on Thursday, 16 September 2021. 

Wipro lost 0.13%. The IT major announced the launch of the Wipro-Google Cloud Innovation Arena to accelerate adoption of cloud. The firm said the cloud collaboration space will provide in-house technical expertise, ensure seamless cloud adoption and accelerate innovation to drive business transformation for customers. By combining the expertise and resources of Wipro FullStride Cloud Services and Google Cloud innovation center will offer a unique combination of people, processes, and platforms that will collectively create a futuristic experience for customers globally.