Indian equity markets were trading flat on Wednesday following mixed global cues.

At 9:55 a.m., Sensex was up 21 points or 0.02 per cent at 84,935 and Nifty was down 4 points or 0.02 per cent at 25,934.

In the early trade, market trend remained positive. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE) 1,170 shares were in the green and 1,155 in the red.

A mixed trend was seen in the midcap and smallcap stocks. Nifty midcap 100 index was down 200 points or 0.33 per cent at 60,650 and Nifty smallcap 100 index was up 34 points or 0.18 per cent at 19,473.

As Jammu and Kashmir enters the second phase of its assembly elections, a delegation of diplomats from 16 foreign missions, including the United States, European Union, Russia, and Australia, has arrived in Srinagar to witness the voting process.

The news reported that this marks the first time the central government has extended an invitation to foreign diplomats to observe elections in the Union Territory, following the abrogation of Article 370 and the state's reorganisation into two Union Territories in 2019.

According to sources, the government’s objective behind this visit is to showcase the “peaceful conduct of the electoral process” and the “large-scale participation of people” in the region.

South Korea’s agricultural ministry on Wednesday said it plans to commercialise a genetic diagnostic kit for lumpy skin disease (LSD) next year.

The genetic kit will help selectively cull infected cattle rather than destroying the entire herd, news agency reported.

The technology -- developed jointly with Median Diagnostics -- is capable of delivering results within 8 hours, significantly faster than previous methods, which took a week, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

The solution allows farms to cull only infected cattle, overcoming the limitations of the previous methods, which were less effective due to the need for rapid containment of the disease during an outbreak.

Driven by strong GDP growth and positive investor sentiment, India is poised to remain among the world's fastest growing economies until 2030, global brokerage Goldman Sachs has said.

The country’s earnings have started to stablise over the past few years, with “mid-teen profit growth momentum that might sustain until 2030,” Goldman Sachs said in a note, , as the country continues to remain resilient amid global uncertainties.

According to the global brokerage, Nifty’s total earnings growth and market cap have both achieved an 18 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past five years.

“As this evolves, the profit pool is likely to shift towards investment cyclicals, which includes autos, real estate, chemicals along with industrials, which could see the largest rise in profit share. Consumer cyclicals could see the highest absolute growth,” according to Goldman Sachs.

Real Madrid suffered a late scare to pocket a 3-2 home win against Alaves in the seventh round of matches in La Liga.

A strong Real Madrid starting line-up was having few problems as they led 3-0 against a rival who rested the majority of their regular starters ahead of a trip to play Getafe next weekend.

Lucas Vazquez put Madrid ahead inside the first minute after a good pullback from Vinicius Jr, and Kylian Mbappe's fifth goal in five games doubled the lead five minutes before halftime, reports.

Rodrygo looked to have ended any slight doubts about the final result when he cut inside from the right to score with a low shot three minutes into the second half.

The government will publish detailed guidelines on stock short selling this week to help prevent people unintentionally engaging in illegal trading, the financial regulator said on Wednesday.

The guidelines will be made public on Thursday, while an English-version of the how-to instructions will be available from next month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

"There has been a need to remove uncertainties over how the financial authorities interpret and apply regulations on stock short selling, and to stipulate what may constitute as naked short selling," it said of reasons for the guidelines, reports news agency.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it has signed a US$30 million loan agreement with Bhutan to fund a solar power project.

The Distributed Solar for Public Infrastructure Project aims to generate up to 35 megawatts of solar power systems on rooftops of public infrastructure across the country, according to news agency.

According to the bank, energy security in Bhutan has become a growing concern because of rising electricity demand and insufficient power supply, particularly during winter.

The project will support Bhutan's national priority of enhancing the climate resilience of energy systems and addressing energy security concerns through the diversification of energy sources.

At least six people were killed and 16 others injured when a tourist van in which they were travelling hit a tree in Tamil Nadu's Ulundurpet, said officials here on Wednesday.

The incident occurred during the early morning hours and the area was receiving heavy rainfall at the time of the mishap.

Those who met with the accident were returning to their homes in Ranipet after visiting Tiruchendur Murugan temple in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, the officials said.

Police said that when the tourist van reached Mettathur village in Ulundurpet, the driver lost control of the vehicle reportedly due to heavy rain and rammed into a tree on the roadside. Six people died on the spot and several were injured.

Canada and the US have announced that they will create a task force to negotiate a boundary dispute in the Arctic.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, the two countries said the task force would undertake negotiations on the maritime boundary in the Beaufort Sea, including resolving the overlap in the continental shelf in the Central Arctic Ocean, news agency reported.

The area at issue is situated north of Alaska, Yukon and the Northwest Territories, the statement said.

"Canada and the United States will work collaboratively toward a final agreement that will provide clarity on our Arctic maritime boundaries, bearing in mind the responsible conservation and sustainable use of Arctic resources for the mutual benefit of Americans and Canadians, including Indigenous Peoples," said the statement.

Israel's army has said that Hezbollah had fired around 300 rockets and other projectiles into Israel amid the second day of Israel's heaviest attacks on Lebanon since 2006.

An explosive drone fell in Atlit, a coastal town south of Haifa, northern Israel, marking the first time Hezbollah's rocket fire has reached this region, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday night, adding that two additional drones were launched toward the area but were intercepted. The drones caused no casualties, according to Israel's rescue services.

Most of the rockets were intercepted by Israel's aerial defence systems, the army said.

Hezbollah confirmed the attack in a statement, saying its fighters launched "an aerial operation with a squadron of assault drones against the headquarters of Israel's special naval task unit Shayetet 13 in the Atlit base, targeting the positions of its officers and soldiers and striking the targets precisely", news agency reported.