By Bharath Rajeswaran
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares rose on Tuesday led by a rebound in financials, while easing domestic inflation and hopes of foreign inflows after MSCI’s index revision aided sentiment.
The NSE Nifty 50 index was up 0.43% to 21,709.10, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.55% to 71,465.24 as of 10:33 a.m. IST.
Nine of the 13 major sectors logged gains.
Highest-weighted of the 13 major sectors, financials recouped 1.2% after dropping 1.4% in the previous session.
On the flip side, metals lost 2.7%, led by aluminium maker Hindalco, which tumbled 13% after its U.S. subsidiary Novelis’ quarterly results. The stock was the top Nifty 50 loser.
Novelis’ ongoing greenfield facility is facing severe cost escalation, said Jefferies, while attributing muted volume growth to lower demand.
Also helping sentiment was India’s three-month-low January retail inflation data, which signalled macroeconomic strength, and global index provider Morgan Stanley Capital International’s move to add five Indian stocks to its key index.
The MSCI rejig, which raised the country’s weightage to a record high of 18.2%, could potentially bring in passive foreign investor inflows worth $1.2 billion, estimated Nuvama Alternative and Quantitative Research.
Meanwhile, profit booking continued in the broader, more domestic-focussed small- and mid-caps. The two indexes lost 1% and 0.1%, respectively, after falling 4% and 2.5% in the previous session.
We are going to see further migration of allocations from small-caps and mid-caps to large-caps, given the expensive valuations, said Dipan Mehta, CEO and managing director at Elixir Equities.
Asian markets advanced ahead of a key U.S. inflation reading, which could influence the timing of U.S. rate cuts. [MKTS/GLOB]
Paytm tumbled 8.5% to a record low after brokerage Macquarie downgraded the stock, citing “serious risk of exodus of customers”, after the central bank’s recent clampdown against Paytm’s banking arm.
Coal India gained 2%, after posting a higher-than-expected third-quarter profit.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil, Sohini Goswami and Janane Venkatraman)
