Market Live: Sensex, Nifty open mildly higher; Adani Ports, Yes Bank top gainers

10:15 am Earnings Estimates: Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank’s third quarter (October-December) standalone profit is seen rising 21 percent to Rs 1,064.2 crore, compared to Rs 879.8 crore in year-ago.

The Street is anticipating highest NII growth rate in last few quarters. Net interest income is expected to increase 19.4 percent to Rs 2,448.2 crore for quarter ended December 2017, compared to Rs 2,050.3 crore in same quarter last year, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

10:10 am Results Today: Reliance Industries, ITC, HDFC Bank, IDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Wipro will announce quarterly earnings.

10:04 am HCL Technologies’ stock reaction post earnings:

Here are the top headlines at 10:00 am from Moneycontrol News’ Anchal Pathak

9:56 am Market Update: Benchmark indices continued to trade with mild gains in morning, but the broader markets gained some strength after early volatility. Investors await corporate earnings and Union Budget.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 72.54 points at 35,332.83 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 7.30 points to 10,824.30.

Reliance Industries, HDFC, Adani Ports, ITC, SBI and L&T were leading contributors to Sensex’ gains. The selling in Infosys, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank capped gains.

The market breadth was balanced. About 1,135 shares declined against 1,036 advancing shares on the BSE.

9:46 am Rupee Trade: The rupee firmed up 19 paise to trade at 63.65 against the dollar in morning today, rising for a third straight day on increased selling of the US currency by exporters and banks.

Forex dealers said the dollar was weak against other currencies overseas which supported the rupee.

Yesterday, the rupee had gained 2 paise to close at 63.86 against the American currency.

9:40 am Earnings Estimates: Country’s second largest private sector lender HDFC Bank is expected to report 20 percent growth in profit at Rs 4,626.3 crore for October-December quarter, compared to Rs 3,865.3 crore in year-ago.

The Street is anticipating the highest NII growth in last few quarters. According to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18, net interest income is seen rising 23 percent to Rs 10,226.6 crore from Rs 8,309.1 crore YoY.

9:34 am IPO Subscription: Amber Enterprises India’s IPO has been subscribed 3.61 times, as per data available on the NSE website.

The public issue has received bids for 1.77 crore equity shares against IPO size of 49 lakh equity shares.

9:26 am Buzzing: Biocon shares gained 2 percent after the company and Sandoz, a division of Swiss-pharmaceutical major Novartis, said they have entered into a global partnership to develop, manufacture and commercialize multiple biosimilars in immunology and oncology for patients across the globe.

Under the terms of the agreement, both companies will share responsibility for end-to-end development, manufacturing and global regulatory approvals for a number of products and will have a cost and profit share arrangement globally.

Sandoz will lead commercialization in North America and the European Union, while Biocon will lead commercialization in the rest of the world.

9:19 am Earnings: IT firm HCL Technologies said its profit for October-December quarter increased 0.3 percent sequentially to Rs 2,194 crore and maintained full year constant currency revenue guidance.

Revenue during the quarter increased 3 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 12,808 crore and dollar revenue rose 3.1 percent to USD 1,988 million with constant currency growth at 3.3 percent, it added.

Numbers barring operational performance beat analyst expectations. Profit was estimated at Rs 2,135 crore on revenue of Rs 12,788 crore and dollar revenue at USD 1,978 million for the quarter, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

The software services provider has maintained its guidance for full year constant currency revenue at 10.5-12.5 percent and operating margin (EBIT) at 19.5-20.5 percent. Constant currency growth in dollar terms also maintained at 12.1-14.1 percent.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks extended gains in opening on Friday, with the Nifty holding 10,800 level.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 65.36 points to 35,325.65 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 8.30 points at 10,825.30.

About 749 shares advanced against 637 declining shares on the BSE.

ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HCL Technologies, HUL, Yes Bank, Adani Ports, Reliance Industries, Coal India and Eicher Motors were early gainers.

UltraTech Cement, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Vedanta, Wipro, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors were early losers.

GVK Power, Jaypee Infratech, down 2-3 percent

Wonderla Holidays, Jain Irrigation, Gitanjali Gems and TBZ gained 2-6 percent post GST meet. Biocon rose 2 percent.