Benchmark indices closed flat after a volatile session on Wednesday with Nifty finishing just above 10,650 level. At the close, the Sensex was down 1.25 points at 35591.25, while Nifty was down 0.40 points at 10651.80. ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, HCL Tech and SBI are the top gainers, while Bajaj Auto, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, HDFC and Reliance Industries are among major losers on the Sensex. Among the sectors energy, FMCG and pharma witnessed some selling pressure, while buying was seen in bank, IT and metal stocks.

Shares of JSW Energy surged more than 7 percent on strong third quarter earnings. The company's quarterly net profit jumped more than 200 percent to Rs 146.2 crores. It had posted Rs 47 crores in Q3FY18. The revenue in the third quarter stood at Rs 2,421.7 crore, which jumped more than 21 percent. Shares quoted at Rs 68.50, up 6.7 percent on the NSE at 3.13 pm. Benchmark indices traded flat with the Nifty up by just 4.5 points to 10,656.70, while the Sensex was down by 5 points to 35,588. 

Jubilant FoodWorks, which runs Domino's Pizza, on Wednesday reported a 46 percent year-on-year (YoY) jump in net profit at Rs 96.5 crore for the third quarter ended December 2018 on same-store sales growth. In the corresponding quarter last year, the company posted a net profit of Rs 66 crore.

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Indian Oil Corporation has reported a fall of 78 percent in its net profit for the December quarter to Rs 716 crore against Rs 3,247 crore that the company reported last quarter. Its revenues grew 6 percent to Rs 1.6 lakh crore against Rs 1.5 lakh crore last quarter. Shares quoted at Rs 136.60, down by more than half a percent.

Shares of Axis Bank Wednesday jumped over 6 percent to its 52-week high level after the company reported over two-fold jump in its third quarter net profit. The shares of the bank rose by 6.38 percent to Rs 703 - its 52-week high - on BSE. Similarly, at NSE, its shares jumped 6.44 percent to its 52-week high of Rs 703.35.

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Godrej Consumer products shares have slumped almost 8.5 percent intraday to Rs 693.20 as brokerage houses cut their earnings estimates after the company's weak set of earnings for the quarter ended December 2018. The stock quoted at Rs 696.75, still down by 7.25 percent on the NSE at 1.53 pm with as many as 32,13,053 shares traded. Meanwhile, benchmark indices traded in the green, after early afternoon's volatility. The Nifty was up by 2 points to trade at 10,654 at 1.56 pm. The Sensex gained 50 points to trade at 35,643.

Upasna Bhardwaj, senior economist at Kotak Mahindra Bank, said a relief package to farmers under the minimum support income measures could cost the government about Rs 75,000 to Rs 80,000 crore a year. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that his party will bring Minimum Income Guarantee for the poor of the country if the Congress party is voted power in the Lok Sabha elections this year.

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Shares of ICICI Bank touched an intra-day high of Rs 363.20 on Wednesday, rising more than 4.5 percent ahead of the private lender's third quarter results later in the day.

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Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL) failed to assuage investor unease over CobraPost's allegations, pressuring the stock when it resumed trading on Wednesday. Shares of the mortgage lender slumped as much as 12 percent to Rs 153 in early morning trade, extending previous day's selloff after investigative news portal Cobrapost accused DHFL of siphoning off Rs 31,000 crore of loans to 'dubious' companies. The stock ended 8 percent lower following the news on Tuesday.

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ICICI Bank Ltd is scheduled to release its earnings for the December 2018 quarter today and analysts expect a strong set of numbers. A key thing to watch out for will be the slippages or the accretion of bad loans in a particular quarter, analysts believe.

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Meanwhile, shares of ICICI Bank quoted at Rs 358.10, up by 3.24 percent on the NSE at 11.20 am. The NSE Nifty50 traded at 10,633, down by 19 points, while the Sensex was lower by 23 points, trading at 35,570.

Shares of Cyient rose nearly 4 percent, after falling for two days in a row, as the company said its board will meet on Friday to consider a proposal to buy back equity shares. Shares of the company quoted at 2.65 percent higher at Rs 603.25 on the NSE at 11.17 am with as many as 73,864 shares traded. The stock lost nearly 2 percent in the past two sessions. 

Shares of Bosch gained 3 percent in the early trade on Wednesday as company's buyback offer to open on February 6 and will close on February 20. The buyback is of 10,27,100 equity shares of Rs 10 each of the company at a price of Rs 21,000 per equity share.

The Sensex started more than 183 points higher, or 0.51 percent, to 35,775.70, while the Nifty surged by 46.50 points, or 0.44 percent, to 10,699. The Nifty MidCap index surged half a percent, while Nifty Bank climbed 0.84 percent. Among top gainers, both Axis Bank and HCL Technologies shares surged more than 4 percent after robust third quarter earnings. Bajaj Finance gained 3.4 percent. Yes Bank and ICICI Bank climbed 2.5 percent. Among laggards, Adani Ports, BPCL, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC Bank and HDFC slipped between 0.80 percent and 1.4 percent.

The Indian rupee opened lower by 25 paise at 71.36 per dollar on Wednesday against Tuesday's close 71.11. Meanwhile, the Sensex jumped 227 points, or 0.64 percent, to 35,819 at 9.08 am. The Nifty settled at 10,702, up by 50 points, or 0.47 percent. The Nifty MidCap surged 0.36 percent, while Bank Nifty was higher by 0.81 percent.

Yes Bank promoters Rana Kapoor and Madhu Kapur have agreed to nominate one representative director each on the bank's board as part of truce under the works, the private lender said on Tuesday.

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Public sector lender Bank of Baroda (BoB) on Tuesday reported an over four-fold jump in net profit at Rs 471.25 crore for the third quarter ended December 2018. The bank had logged a net profit of Rs 111.78 crore in October-December 2017. Total income in the reported quarter increased at Rs 14,562.85 crore as compared to Rs 12,976.28 crore in the year-ago period, BoB said in a regulatory filing. 

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To promote domestic assembling of electric vehicles, the government Tuesday lowered customs duty on import of parts and components of such vehicles to 10 to 15 percent. Until now, vehicle parts and components imported for assembly in India attracted import duty of 15 to 30 percent.

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The country's third largest software services firm, HCL Technologies, on Tuesday reported a 19 percent increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,611 crore for the third quarter ended December 2018.

CNBC-TV18 Polls had predicted a profit of Rs 2,516 crore for the quarter under review.

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The initial public offer of Chalet Hotels, which owns, develops and manages high-end hotels in key metro cities in India, was subscribed 7 percent on the first day of bidding on Tuesday.

The IPO, to raise about Rs 1,641 crore, received bids for 27,85,574 shares against the total issue size of 4,13,26,672 shares, as per the data available with the NSE.

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Private sector lender, Axis Bank, on Tuesday reported a 131 percent year-on-year (YoY) jump in the net profit at Rs 1,680.8 crore for the third quarter ended December 2018 on higher loan growth.

Results today: ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto, IOC, NTPC, BEL, Ajanta Pharma, Castrol India, Cholamandalam, Hexaware, Jubilant Foodworks, LIC housing, TATA Comm, Torrent Pharma, Ashoka Builcon, Bajaj Holding, EIH, BF Utilities, BF Investment, Blue Dart, Dixon Technologies, Gujarat Pipavav, Astra Microwave, Dhampur Sugar, Jindal Stainless, JSW Energy, Kolte Patil, Mahindra holidays, TATA Communications, Vinati Organic, Alembic Pharma, Alkyl Amines Chemicals, Arvind Smartspaces, EPC Industries, GMM Praudler, GP Petroleums, Heritage Foods, IFB Agro, IIFL Holdings, Indraprastha Medical Corp, International Paper, Kirloskar Ferrous, Mahindra Logistics, MAS Financial, Orient Bell, Pioneer Distilleries, Plastiblends, Ratnamani Metals, Sagar Cements, Shemaroo Entertainment, SIS, AAVAS Financiers. 

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Asia: S&P 500 e-mini futures tacked on 0.1 percent in early trade while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.05 percent. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.2 percent before erasing gains.

US: The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.21 percent to end at 24,579.96 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.15 percent to 2,640, dragged down by technology and communications stocks. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.81 percent to 7,028.29.

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Shares of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) tanked 10 percent after news portal Cobrapost alleged that the mortgage lender's promoters siphoned off about Rs 35,000 crore.

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