Hindustan Unilever was trading lower at Rs 496 head of its results to be declared later today. Heavyweight, Reliance Industries was trading higher after reports of the company's plans to invest $2 billion in Venezuela.

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd was steady ahead of its results, which are expected to be good. Jewellery stocks were subdued in trade after the government decided to hike the import duty on gold and platinum.

Shares of P C Jeweller, Thangamayil Jewellery and Titan were marginally lower in trade today.

Among non index stocks shares of Shree Cements jumped after the company reported a 267 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 217.44 crore in the October-December quarter.

Asian Paints too gained following a robust set of Q3 FY 13 numbers. Nifty stocks that lost ground in trade today were Tata Motors, TCS, ONGC, State Bank of India, Gail and Dr Reddy's Laboratories.

Index stocks that gained were Jindal Steel, Mahindra and Mahindra, Hindalco and Maruti Suzuki. Banking stocks were trading lower ahead of the RBI credit policy next week. PSU banking stocks were amongst the losers with Andhra Bank, Allahabad Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Canara Bank leading the declines.

Realty stocks also saw some selling pressure with notable losers from the space including HDIL, DB Realty and Anant Raj Industries.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia were trading with gains with the Hong Kong's Hang Sang, Korean Kospi and Taiwan Weighted amongst the gainers.

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