Sensex up as banking stocks gain ahead of earnings

Indian shares were up on Wednesday as financial stocks gained on an upbeat start to the earnings season and ahead of quarterly results from major banks. The Nifty Bank index hit its highest in two months, with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank leading the gains. "December quarter earnings as a whole have been mostly in-line or better than expected barring the IT sector," said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research equities at Centrum Wealth.