Equity indices trade flat, Zee Entertainment up 20 pc

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 143 points or 0.24 per cent at 59,148 while the Nifty 50 gained by 43 points or 0.24 per cent to 17,605.

Sectoral indices were mixed with Nifty media advancing by 9.4 per cent and realty by 1.5 per cent. But Nifty financial service and private bank were in the red. Among stocks, Zee Entertainment jumped 20 per cent to Rs 306.75 per share after the merger deal with Sony Pictures India.

The other prominent gainers were Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Tech Mahindra. However, Nestle India, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank, HDFC and HDFC Bank traded with a negative bias.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei was down 0.6 per cent while Hong Kong shares climbed 0.51 per cent.