Indian shares flat; Reliance up, Essar Oil slumps

MUMBAI: Indian shares erased opening gains on Wednesday, while market heavyweight Reliance Industries rallied as much as 4.1 percent after the company said its board would consider on Jan. 20 a share buyback.

Essar Oil fell as much as 20 percent after India's Supreme Court passed a ruling late on Tuesday that means the refiner will no longer be able to defer payment of a sales tax.

At 9:17 a.m. (0347 GMT), the main 30-share BSE index was flat 16,460.28 after opening up 0.3 percent, with 14 of its components gaining.

The 50-share NSE index was down 0.3 percent at 4,951.00.