Sensex volatile; Bharti up 2.5%, IT plunges post Wipro nos

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty stayed flat despite positive Asian cues. Banking & financials, auto, metals and oil & gas stocks could find takers. However, technology stocks (which saved the market yesterday post TCS numbers) were getting hammered post Wipro quarterly numbers.

Country's third largest IT company by market cap said its profit after tax grew by 1.7% QoQ to Rs 1,481 crore, which is in-line with street expectations. However, the company's guidance for the first quarter of FY13 is almost similar to fourth quarter - it expects IT services revenues at USD 1.52-1.55 billion in April-June quarter, a growth of just 0.6% over January-March quarter revenues. The stock fell over 7% while rivals TCS and Infosys were down around 1%.

The BSE benchmark gained 21.40 points at 17,228.69 and the NSE benchmark was up 8 points at 5,230.50.

Index heavyweight and oil & gas producer Reliance Industries rose 0.7%. Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel jumped 2.6% on short covering after sharp fall in previous two sessions due to TRAI recommendations for 2G spectrum auction.

Bajaj Auto, country's second largest two-wheeler maker went up 2.2% whereas Hero Motocorp was up 0.5%. Four-wheeler makers Maruti and Tata Motors were up 0.75-1.4%.

Lenders State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank moved up just 0.2-0.5%.

The market breadth turned positive - about two shares advanced for every share falling on the BSE. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained over 0.5%.

In the second line shares, Cox & Kings, Shriram City, GE Shipping, Wockhardt and 3M India shot up 3.5-4% while ING Vysya Bank, Prestige Estate, GRUH Finance, KSK Energy Ventures and CESC slipped 2-4%.