Shares price of Wipro dropped 1 per cent despite the company reporting Q3 FY 2013 results that beat market expectations.

Oil marketing stocks which rallied sharply following the government's move to raise diesel prices also gained once again in trade today. HPCL, BPCL, ONGC and Oil India were among the winners.

Reliance Industries was trading higher by 1 per cent ahead of its results to be declared later today. Tata Motors Ltd gained after the global auto giant reported 32 per cent increase in sales at 2,393 units in 2012.

Metal stocks which have seen selling in the last few days were trading higher. Among the stocks from the sector that gained were Tata Steel, Sterlite Industries, Sesa Goa and JSW Steel.

Banking stocks which had witnessed a subdued trend on Thursday gained marginally with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank and Axis Bank amongst the winners.

ITC was trading steady ahead of its numbers to be declared later today. IT stocks however lost ground following selling pressure with TCS and Infosys among the losers.

Among the losers in trade from the Nifty was HeroMotorCorp which lost 4 per cent and Mahindra and Mahindra, which lost ground on fears that its diesel sale of vehicles might get affected due to the recent diesel hike.

PSU banking stocks continued to find buyers are lower levels with Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Syndicate Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Oriental Bank.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia were trading higher led by strong gains in the Japanese and Hong Kong markets.

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