By Hritam Mukherjee
(Reuters) -Indian shares rose on Wednesday, after struggling for direction in early trade, as gains in Bajaj Finance lifted sentiment that has been bogged down through most of October by dull corporate earnings and sustained foreign selling.
The NSE Nifty 50 was up 0.2% at 24,520 points as of 10:00 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.2% to 80,406 points.
The benchmarks fell 0.2% each in opening trade.
They logged their worst sessions in three weeks on Tuesday, weighed down by slowing corporate earnings and an exodus of foreign money.
Foreign outflows from Indian equities, set for a record monthly high, continued for the 17th straight session on Tuesday, as investors redirected funds to China on recently-announced stimulus measures and relatively cheaper valuations.
Domestic equities have seen a spate of profit-taking since hitting record highs on Sept. 27, with the Nifty shedding about 7% from all-time high levels.
On the day, Bajaj Finance rose 2.5% after its management indicated that credit costs had peaked in the first-half of fiscal 2025, which signalled a rebound in earnings growth, according to analysts. The lender was the top percentage gainer on the Nifty 50.
The company’s upbeat commentary is countering the selling pressure, which is continuing due to dull earnings and foreign outflows, Kranthi Bathini, director of equity strategy at WealthMills Securities, said.
The more domestically-focussed small-caps and mid-caps rose 1% each, after inching 0.1% lower in early trade.
Among individual stocks, Paytm rose 4.3%, after getting approval to onboard new unified payment interface (UPI) users.
Hyundai Motor India bounced back from a dull debut on Tuesday, gaining 1.4%.
On the flip side, Zomato <ZOMT.NS> fell 1.4%, trimming most of its losses despite the food and grocery delivery firm missing quarterly profit estimates after expansion costs in its quick commerce platform Blinkit squeezed margins.
($1 = 84.0860 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Sonia Cheema)
