Auto major Maruti Suzuki reported a 29% increase in net profit at Rs 863 crore for the quarter ended September 2014. It was Rs 670 crore in the same period a year ago.

Total sales rose 17.5% to Rs 12,304 crore from Rs 10,468 crore in the September quarter 2013.

The rupee depreciated by 6 paise to 61.36 against the dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market due to month-end demand for the US currency from importers.

Forex dealers attributed the rupee's fall to month-end demand for the US currency from importers but dollar's weakness against other units and a higher opening in the domestic equity market capped the fall.

Rising for the sixth consecutive session, the benchmark BSE Sensex gained over 49 points in early trade today on sustained foreign capital inflows amidst hopes of more reforms by the government.

The 30-share index, which had gained over 851.71 points in the previous five sessions after the government announced reforms in oil & gas and coal sectors, rose by 49.33 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 26,900.38 with power, PSU, capital goods, healthcare and banking stocks leading the rise.

Benchmark indices continued to trade firm after a gap up opening led by L&T and Tata Motors while index heavyweight Reliance industries rebounded after the recent correction post the gas price hike.

At 10.40AM, the 30-share Sensex is up 179 points at 26,754 and the 50-share Nifty is up 54 points at 7,982.

Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) has dipped nearly 3% at Rs 913, its lowest level since March 31 this year on BSE on reports that the company will not get the new gas price for its currently producing Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas fields in eastern offshore KG-D6 till it makes up for the shortfall in production in the past four years. The stock touched a low of Rs 912 on NSE.

However, the stock recovered from its early morning low and trading lower by 1% at Rs 932 on BSE at 0944 hours. A combined 1.38 million shares changed hands on the counter so far on NSE and BSE.

Shares of India’s third-largest private sector lender, Axis Bank, are trading higher by 1% at Rs 389 on the BSE after it reduced its base rate by 10 basis points (bps) to 10.15 per cent on the back of a decline in cost of funds.

The move comes despite the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deciding to hold interest rates in the past four policy reviews, the last one being in September.

The Rs 70,000-crore ambitious Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) on Wednesday was handed over the allotment letter for the development of commercial tower for the members of BSE Brokers’ Forum. Gujarat finance minister Saurabh Patel handed over the letter to BSE Brokers’ Forum vice-chairman Alok Churiwala.

Indian markets are closed on Wednesday due to assembly elections in the western Maharashtra state.

The benchmark BSE index fell 0.13 percent, or 34.74 points, to end at 26,349.33 on Tuesday. The broader NSE index lost 0.26 percent, or 20.25 points, to end at 7,864.

Reliance Industries is trading higher by nearly 2% at Rs 973 on BSE in early morning deals after it reported a better-than-expected consolidated net profit at Rs 5,972 crore for the quarter ended September 2014 (Q2) on back of improved gross refining margins (GRMs) and lower input costs. The company had registered a profit of Rs 5,873 crore during the same quarter last fiscal.

However, consolidated net sales declined 4.3% to Rs 113,396 crore from Rs 118,439 crore for the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.

Bajaj Auto has gained around 3% after Bank of America-Merrill Lynch upgraded its stocks from "underperform" to "buy", citing higher volume and average selling prices, and increased contribution from dirt-bike making affiliate KTM.

Bajaj Auto, which is going to announce its Q2 earnings later Tuesday, is expected to see its net profit grow by 3% on an annual basis, according to market analysts.

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