Indian shares closed higher for a sixth straight session on Wednesday, led by gains in information technology stocks, as investors await the central bank’s policy meeting outcome later this week.
The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.25 per cent to 17,388.15, at close, and the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.37 per cent at 58,350.53, after see-sawing between gains and losses for most of the session against the backdrop of escalating U.S.-China tensions.
Looking ahead, traders are awaiting the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy meeting on Friday.
With inflation at multi-year highs, the RBI committee is seen raising rates, though the views on the quantum of increase were split wide between 25 basis points and 50 basis points, a Reuters poll of economists showed. read more
Helping the sentiment in domestic equities on Wednesday, foreign investors bought $860.5 million worth of Indian shares in the last two session after purchasing a net $618.05 million worth of shares in July.
Nifty’s IT sub-index closed up 1.35% after scaling its highest in more than a month in the session. Infosys Ltd (INFY.NS), Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS.NS) and Tech Mahindra were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 index, rising over 1 per cent each.
Countering some of the gains, top automakers Tata Motors (TAMO.NS) and Maruti Suzuki India (MRTI.NS) fell 1.8 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively.
Nifty’s auto index closed 0.8 per cent lower, snapping five straight sessions of gains, over chip supply fears on the back of fresh US-China tensions after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which is home to the world’s biggest contract manufacturer of semiconductors.
“If there is any escalation (between US and China) by this weekend, that will likely disrupt the supply chain management globally for semiconductors,” said Prashanth Tapse, research analyst at Mehta Equities.
Among other individual stock moves, InterGlobe Aviation, the operator of India’s top airline IndiGo, closed 1.7 per cent higher ahead of its quarterly results.
(Reuters)