The Indian equity benchmarks were little changed on Friday as gains in HDFC, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were offset with losses in Infosys, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, TCS and HCL Technologies. The Sensex was trading in a band of over 350 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 16,041.25 and low of 15,927.30.
Most of the Asian markets were trading higher. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.51 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.69 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.03 per cent and Taiwan Weighted rose 0.04 per cent.
Overnight, stocks closed broadly lower on Wall Street Thursday as JPMorgan Chase opened the latest round of corporate earnings for big banks with weak results and a warning about the economy.
Wall Street is also assessing the latest government reports showing that inflation remains hot and shows no signs of cooling, even as central banks try to loosen its grip on businesses and consumers by hiking interest rates.
As of 12:34 pm, the Sensex was up 34 points at 53,450 and Nifty 50 index advanced 12 points to 15,950.
Ten out of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty FMCG index's 1.14 per cent gain. Nifty Auto, Healthcare, Consumer Durables, Healthcar and Pharma indices were also trading higher.
On the other hand, IT, metal, banking and PSU banking shares were facing selling pressure.
Mid- and small-cap shares were trading mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading flat while Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 0.24 per cent.
Hindustan Unilever was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 2.5 per cent to Rs 2,559. Britannia Industries, Tata Consumer Products, Bharti Airtel, Nestle India, Titan, Bajaj Auto and Asian Paints also rose between 1-2 per cent.
On the flipside, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Coal India, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, ONGC, Hindalco and Axis Bank were among the losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,446 shares were advancing while 1,220 were declining on the BSE.
