Among the gainers at this time were Reliance Communications, up 5.09 percent at Rs.290.10; Sterlite, up 3.2 percent at Rs.655.50; ICICI Bank, up 1.72 percent at Rs.748.75, and Sun Pharma, up 1.71 percent at Rs.1,210.35.

The leading losers were Tata Power, down 1.46 percent at Rs.1,265; Bharit Airtel, down 0.85 percent at Rs.409.15; M&M, down 0.79 percent at Rs.823, and Reliance Industries, down 0.76 percent at Rs.1,956.80.

Other important Asian markets were trading mixed.

The Nikkei, a key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed 65.82 points or 0.64 percent lower at 10,214.64 points.

At the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the benchmark SSE composite was ruling 4.79 percent up at 2,845.02 points.

The primary index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Hang Seng, was also in the green at 19,784.74 points, up 262.74 points or 1.35 percent.