BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares closed higher on Tuesday after tumbling as much as 3% in the previous session, led by a surge in information technology and metal stocks, though fears over surging Omicron COVID-19 cases trimmed gains.
The NSE Nifty 50 index ended 0.94% higher at 16,770.85 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.89% to 56,319.01. Both gained nearly 2% during the session. The indexes are still over 10% down from their peak in October.
“Market will remain sideways and the selling pressure will exist until there is some global clarity on the new variant and interest rate policies of central banks,” said Siddharth Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Securities.
New Zealand delayed the planned reopening of its international border because of the sweeping spread of Omicron around the world on Tuesday, as several other countries reimposed social distancing measures.
The Nifty IT index rose 2%, while the metals index gained 2.9%, after falling 2% and 4%, respectively, in the previous session.
Wipro Ltd rose 3.7% after it bought cybersecurity consulting firm Edgile for $230 million.
Battery maker Exide Industries rose as much as 6% after it approved setting up greenfield multi-gigawatt lithium-ion cell manufacturing facility in India.
Shares of MapmyIndia, which powers Apple Inc’s maps in the country, surged 54% in their Mumbai market debut.
Meanwhile, SoftBank-backed Indian e-commerce platform Snapdeal filed for an initial public offering on Tuesday, joining dozens of firms in the country that have tapped the capital markets this year.
(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
