Oil prices fell in Asia on Friday, pressured by a stronger dollar as dealers speculated over whether the Federal Reserve will lift interest rates sooner than later, analysts said. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for December delivery fell 16 cents to US$ 80.96 while Brent crude for December was down 31 cents at US$ 85.93 in mid-morning trade.

Benchmark indices have opened at record high levels on Friday on the back of firm global cues and and heavy FII buying. Also, the government's announcement of FDI norms for real estate sector boosted investor sentiment

At 9:40AM, the 30-share Sensex is up 198 points at 27,544 and the 50-share Nifty has gained 57 points at 8,226.

Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest mobile operator, reported a 170.2 per cent jump in net income during the July-September quarter to Rs 1,383 crore. The company’s highest quarterly profit since March 2011 was backed by a 74 per cent increase in data revenue in India as data volume doubled. Its net profit stood at Rs 512 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Bharti Airtel’s performance beat average analyst estimates of net profit at around Rs 1,300 crore during July-September. In April-June, the company reported net income of Rs 1,108 crore.

The Securities Appellate Tribunal on Thursday asked DLF to file an affidavit by November 3, explaining why it wants to redeem investments in mutual funds and how much money it is planning to draw.

The real estate giant has investments worth Rs 2,500 crore in mutual funds. It has appealed to the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) against a order of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) banning it from accessing the capital market for three years.

ICICI Bank – the country’s largest private sector lender reported a net profit of Rs 2,709 crore for the quarter ended September 30 which is higher by 15% as compared to the same period of the previous year.

The rise in profit was aided by 26% growth in non-interest income and expansion of net interest margins (NIM) on the back of 25% year-on-year growth in retail advances.

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.

China's Xiaomi Inc has become the world's third-largest smartphone vendor just three years after first hitting the market, trailing only Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc, according to a new industry study.

Strategy Analytics said Xiaomi accounted for 6% of all 320 million smartphones shipped during July-September. Samsung made up 25%, down from 35% a year earlier due to rising competition from several directions.

Markets edged higher after the first hour of trade led by IT exporters after the US Federal Reserve Bank at its two-day meet which ended Wednesday remained confident that the economy is on a growth track

At 10:35AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 57 points at 27,155 and the 50-share Nifty was up 21 points at 8,111.

State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd aims to double its refining margins once it completes the expansion and upgrade of its Kochi refinery in Kerala to process high sulphur crudes by 2016, a senior company official said.

The refiner's margins dropped to $3 a barrel this year, from $4.50 to $5 a barrel last year, but levels will increase by a about $3 to $4 a barrel by mid-2016, said Neeraj Shukla, a chief manager at BPCL's refineries division.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun a probe against four officials of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in the Rs 10,000-crore Saradha chit fund scam.

According to CBI sources, three existing Sebi officials and one former official are being examined.

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