Benchmark shares indices continued to consolidate in noon trades on Wednesday led by mobile service providers on reports that they have hiked voice call tariffs.
At 1:05PM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex gained 33 points at 20,025 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty was up 8 points at 6,056.
Among the companies that will anounce their third quarter earnings today include, JSW Energy, Reliance Communications, Sun TV Network among others.
Asian share indices were trading flat to negative after the Nikkei fell sharply in today's trade on the back of appreciating yen after the Bank of Japan deferred its government bond buying programme to next year. The Nikkei was down 2.1%, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.2%, the Hang Seng was down 0.2% and Straits Times was up 0.3%.
Among the sectoral indices on the BSE, rate-sensitive sectors such as Bankex, Realty and Capital Goods were among the gainers while Auto, Power, Oil&Gas and Metals were among the top losers.
Rate sensitive shares gained on hopes that the central bank would ease key policy rates at its policy meet next week. In the Sensex pack, HDFC Bank, HDFC and SBI were up 0.7-1.2% each.
In the capital goods space, L&T was up 0.7% while BHEL was marginally up.
Shares of mobile phone service providers such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communication have rallied up to 5% on report that they have hiked voice call tariffs.
Bharti Airtel India's biggest mobile carrier was the top Sensex gainer up 3.8% at Rs 365. Idea Cellular has surged 1.8% to Rs 119 and Reliance Communications is up 1% at Rs 88.
According to Reuters report, Bharti Airtel, said on Wednesday it has raised voice call prices to account for rising costs, sending its shares up more than 3%.
Hindustan Unilever was the top Sensex loser down 5.2% at Rs 457. The company reported a disappointing set of numbers for the third quarter ended December 31, 2012 (Q3).
Further, a number of investment banks, including Credit Suisse and Nomura, cut their ratings on Hindustan Unilever Ltd, a day after the country's largest consumer goods maker disappointed investors with slower-than-expected volume growth and a hike in royalty payments.
Ajanta Pharma was locked in 20% upper circuit at Rs 491, also its 52-week high, after reporting 76% year-on-year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 32.57 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2012 (Q3) on account of higher sales income.
The broader markets were marginally down.
The market breadth was weak as 1,559 stocks declined compared to 1,077 advances on BSE.