Sensex Muted; Kotak Mahindra Gains, Mindtree Falls

Sensex and Nifty were largely flat on Thursday, as investors parsed through earnings, buying into stocks such as Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd that beat results while hitting those such as Mindtree Ltd that missed estimates.

Analysts said quarterly results were likely to remain the main driver of the market in the weeks ahead, at a time when strong gains have raised concerns about valuations.

Wipro Ltd and Reliance Industries Ltd are among the companies expected to announce results later in the day, with shares in each up as much as 1 percent.

"What we see is caution in the market for the near term because of high valuations and as expectations from first-quarter earnings are muted," said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.

The broader NSE Nifty edged down 0.06 percent at 9,893.55 as of 12:54 pm, while the benchmark BSE Sensex was up 0.03 percent at 31,964.92.

Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd rose as much as 2.2 percent, after posting a 23 percent jump in its first-quarter net profit, helped by higher interest and fee income.

Among other gainers, Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd rose as much as 2.98 percent as traders bet it would be able to buy a 51.1 percent stake in state-refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd without a tender offer.

Shares in Hindustan Petroleum fell 3.5 percent.

IT company Mindtree Ltd fell as much as 4.3 percent to its lowest since May 5, after it reported a 1.6 percent drop in June-quarter profit.

State-run lender Canara Bank Ltd fell as much as 6 percent after it posted lower-than-expected first-quarter profit due to higher provisions for bad loans.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)