Sensex, Nifty marginally higher; ITC, Tech Mahindra fall 2%

Moneycontrol Bureau12:58 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks continued to be in positive terrain. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 51.89 points to 23761.04 and the Nifty advanced 12.85 points to 7223.60.About 1272 shares advanced against 999 declining shares on the BSE.12:30 pm RCom deal gets CCI nod: Reliance Communications (RCom) today said fair trade regulator CCI has given nod to its deal to acquire Russian conglomerate Sistema's Indian telecom unit, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL) that operates under the MTS brand.

"We wish to inform you that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved transfer of telecommunications undertaking of Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd to the company," Reliance Communications said in a BSE filing.

In November, India's leading telecom operator RCom announced acquisition of Sistema's Indian telecom unit in an all-stock deal that will create an operator with 118 million subscribers.

As per the deal, SSTL will hold about 10 percent stake in RCom and pay off its existing debt before closing the deal.Also read - Expect 10-15% returns in 2016, downside limited: Kotak's Prasad12:00 pm Market CheckThe market remained marginally higher in noon trade while the broader markets outperformed benchmarks. The Sensex rose 66.16 points to 23775.31 and the Nifty advanced 17 points to 7227.75.

Experts expect the market to remain volatile ahead of expiry of February derivative contracts due on Thursday and Union Budget that is scheduled to be on February 29.

Investor concerns currently are veering toward the Budget as there are obvious worries with respect to rumours of the definition of long-term capital gains period being changed, says C Jayaram of Kotak Mahindra Bank.

However, consensus view is that the Budget will be largely positive as expectations are low. Jayaram says, post the Budget, there is a possibility that the market may form a firm bottom on the back of feel-good factor and then move ahead.

HUL, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Bosch, Zee Entertainment and UltraTech Cement gained 1.5-3.5 percent while ITC, Wipro, Adani Ports, Maruti Suzuki, Tech Mahindra and Vedanta fell 1-2 percent.

JSW Steel gained nearly 2 percent as the company re-commissioned blast furnaces at its Viiayanagar and Salem Works plants. These plants were shut down in August and November 2015, respectively.