Markets end higher amid volatile trade

Markets have closed higher on Wednesday, amid a volatile trading session, led by index heavyweight RIL and Infosys.

The 30 share Sensex provisionally closed at 17,719 levels up 97 points whereas the Nifty provisionally ended 37 points higher at 5,373 levels.

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Updated at 14:47

Markets have pared day's gains and turned negative weighed by selling pressure in Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank.

At 2:45Pm the Sensex was down 9 points at 17,613. Nifty meanwhile is trading down 3 points at 5,335. The Sensex touched an intra-day high of 17,809 and the Nifty touched 5,397 so far.

Among Sensex shares gains were led by index heavyweights Reliance Industries and Infosys shares.

Reliance Industries was up 1.3% at Rs 856. The stock is close to its maximum buyback price of Rs 870 per share. The company's buyback programme commenced from February 1. On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs upgraded RIL to buy from neutral, citing a potential lift in margins on increased refining and recovering oil demand.

Technology shares were up on upbeat economic data from the US from where software majors earn most of their revenues from exports. Infosys and TCS were up over 1.5% each. Tuesday, the company said it has inked a multi-year, multi-million euro contract with European car rental company Europcar for deployment of IT services in France.

Other gainers include, Jindal Steel and Power which was up 2% on reports that the company plans to spend $300 million (approx Rs 1,500 crore) in developing new and existing mines in Africa.

Sensex losers include, Bharti Airtel down 6.5% to Rs 354 after reporting lower-than-expected 22% year-on-year (y-o-y) fall in net profit at Rs 1,011 crore for the third quarter ended December 2011, as compared to Rs 1,303 crore a year earlier due to higher depreciation and amortization provision and higher tax outgo.

ICIC Bank was down over 2% after nearly 15.9 million shares, representing 1.4% of ICICI Bank’s equity changed hands in a block deals at a weighted average price of Rs 924.16 per share on the National Stock Exchange. Reports suggest that Singapore-based Temasek Holdings plans to sell 1.38% stake in the bank to raise up to $303 million.

Among other shares, Thomas Cook (India) has locked upper circuit of 20% at Rs 53.85 on reports that its parent Thomas Cook Group Plc plans to sell stake in its Indian arm Thomas Cook (India).

The broader markets were marginally up by 0.6%.

The market breadth continues to remain positive with 1,602 gainers and 1,188 losers on BSE.