Indian shares ended at fresh two-year high with 30-share index, Sensex notching key 20,000 resistance levels on Friday led by overseas inflows into the riskier assets.Risk appetite surged after government partially deregulated diesel prices yesterday followed by upbeat economic reports from US and China fuelling hopes of growth recovery in Asia's third-biggest economy.
The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex gained 75.01 points and ended at 20,039.04 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty rose 25.20 points to end at 6,064.40.
In the results calendar, Reliance Industries is scheduled after market hours today while UltraTech Cements will unveil results on Jan 19. On Monday, Asian Paints, HDFC, NTPC and SpiceJet will declare their third quarter performances.
Globally, Asian stocks rose for the first time in three days, with the regional benchmark index erasing its weekly loss after economic reports in the world's two largest economies beat estimates.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.1% to 23,601, Taiwan's Weighted index gained 1.5% to 7,732, Singapore's Straits Times was up 0.5% to 3,211 while China's Shanghai Composite added 1.4% to 2,317 and Japan's Nikkei gained 2.86% to 10,913.
European stocks traded firm. France's CAC gained 0.1% to 3,748, Germany's DAX rose 0.2% to 7,752 while UK's FTSE was up 0.2% to 6,143.
Back home, oil &gas, PSU, real-estate, power, capital goods, banks gained while technology, IT, auto, metals and healthcare indexes dropped on BSE.
Among key Sensex stocks, Wipro tanked 8% while TCS & Infosys dropped 1% and 0.3%, Bharti Airtel declined 1.5%, Dr Reddy's and SunPharma dropped 2.6% and 0.5% respectively, Jindal Steel & Sterlite Industries shed 2% , HDFC Bank fell nearly 1%, Hero MotoCorp dropped 3% while Mahindra & Mahindra ended down 2% on BSE.
Among gainers, ONGC and GAIL up 7.3% and 3%, Reliance Industries gained 1%, SBI and ICICI Bank rose 1% each, among autos, Maruti Suzuki gained 3.2% , Coal India was up 0.7% on BSE.
Wipro, India's third-biggest software exporter, fell on concerns the performance of the company's core
IT services segment in third quarter was not as strong as expected.
Bengaluru-based soap to IT services major Wipro reported a net profit of Rs 1,716 crores for the third quarter of FY13 ended on December 31, 2012, registering a y-o-y growth of 18% when compared to the corresponding period last year.
The total revenues of the billionaire Azim Premji promoted company stood at Rs 11,025 crores an increase of 10% when compared to the corresponding quarter last year. The stock is down nearly 5%.
The other notable movers includes, ITC that rose 0.6% after diversified group reported a 20.62% rise in its standalone net profit at Rs 2,051.85 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2012 on the back of strong performance in cigarettes, agri and paper businesses.
HDFC Bank, India's second largest private lender, fell 1% as lender's bad loans rose in the last quarter. Private-sector bank reported 30% increase in net profit at Rs 1,859 for the December quarter on the back of 24% growth in loan book.
The bank's total income rose 22% Rs 10506 crore while net interest income (NII) was Rs 3799 crore rising 22% over the corresponding quarter last year.
Hero MotoCorp ended down over 3% after India's largest motorcycle maker missed estimates for the fourth straight quarter on Thursday as net profit fell 20.4% on rising costs and falling sales that battered margins.
Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) rallied after Government partially deregulated diesel prices today. India's three-biggest ONGC surged 8%, OMCs namely Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Indian Oil Corp jumped between 5-10% on BSE.
Hindalco Industries gained 0.5% on reports that the company has acquired Alumina Refinery and Bauxite Mines from Novelis Do Brasil Ltd, a wholly subsidiary of Novalis Inc.
Exide Industries slipped over 9% after reporting more than 100 bps year-on-year (yoy) decline in operating margins for the third quarter ended December 2012 (Q3) due to higher raw material cost.
The broader markets ended down with mid-caps and small-caps were falling by 0.2-0.5% on BSE.
The market breadth was negative. Out of 3,071 stocks traded, 1,090 stocks declined compared to 852 advancers on BSE.
