Benchmark indices were slightly down in the first hour of trade. Brokers said Thursday’s rally had largely to do with squaring up of positions because of derivatives expiry and that buyers are cautious at higher levels . The Sensex was down 40.01 points at 19366.84 while the Nifty was down16.55 points at 5899.75.

Top gainers in the Sensex were Bharti Airtel, HDFC, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto and Cipla. Losers included Hero Motocorp, Jindal Steel, M&M, SBI and TCS.

Idea Cellular share markets were up around 5 percent after the company reported strong fourth quarter numbers. The telecom operator’s consolidated net profit grew by 34.7 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 308 crore in March quarter, helped by strong subscriber additions.

Biocon shares were down around 3 percent on strong quarterly numbers, while Delta Corp shares were down 9 percent after reporting a loss in the fourth quarter. Jet shares were down around 3 percent after rallying over 10 percent on Thursday following the deal with Etihad. Brokers say the stock is fairly priced at current levels.

ICICI Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, Siemens, Sterlite Tech, LIC Housing Finance, Castrol India, Vijaya Bank, India Bulls Power will announce March quarter earnings today.

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