State-run oil explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and No.1 mobile operator Bharti Airtel will be watched as they report their earnings later in the day. "Domestic earnings season is better-than expected, at least it is not as bad as everyone had thought," said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of research at SMC Investments and Advisors. Asian shares firmed up on hopes Greece will abandon a proposed referendum over a euro-zone bailout but investors remained cautious over a confidence vote later in the day in the Greek parliament. On Thursday, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou bowed to cabinet rebels and agreed to step down and make way for a negotiated coalition government if his Socialists back him in a confidence vote on Friday, allaying fears over a proposed- referendum in a debt-stricken nation. ONGC is expected to post 21 percent higher net profit to 65.1 billion rupees for the fiscal second quarter, a Reuters poll of 11 brokerages showed. Bharti Airtel is expected to report net profit at 12.33 billion rupees for its fiscal second quarter that ended September, a 26 percent fall over the year-ago quarter, a Reuters poll of 13 brokerages showed. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 2.75 percent by 0248 GMT, while Japan's Nikkei was 1.28 percent higher. The Nifty India stock futures traded in Singapore were up 0.92 percent, indicating a higher opening for the Indian market. The main 30-share index closed up 0.1 percent on Thursday at 17,481.93 points.