By Hritam Mukherjee
(Reuters) -Gains in Indian information technology stocks lifted domestic shares on Tuesday, following three straight sessions of declines, while investors awaited local inflation data due later in the day.
The NSE Nifty 50 inched up 0.1% to 24,173 points as of 10:24 a.m. IST, while the BSE Sensex gained 0.2% to 79,627.
Eight of the 13 major sectors advanced. The broader, more domestically-focussed small- and mid-caps rose 0.8% and 0.4%, respectively.
Heavyweight IT stocks advanced 0.5%, extending gains for the third consecutive session.
“Selective buying in IT stocks is taking place after persistent foreign selling in Indian shares, which is supporting the markets amid lacklustre second-quarter earnings,” said Ajit Mishra, senior vice president of research at Religare Broking.
The Nifty has shed about 8% from its record high on Sept. 27, hurt by dull corporate earnings and as foreign investors pulled out nearly $14 billion from domestic stocks.
Meanwhile, India’s inflation data for October, due after the closing bell, is expected to climb to a 14-month high of 5.81%, per a Reuters poll.
Today’s inflation data will be parsed for clues on the condition of the economy and whether the case of the Indian central bank cutting rates by 25 basis points in December, still holds, Mishra said.
The Reserve Bank of India is expected to cut rates by a quarter point in December, according to a narrow majority of economists in a Reuters poll.
On the day, utility firm ONGC rose 1.2% after posting a higher quarterly profit.
On the flip side, Britannia fell 3.6% after the biscuit maker missed second-quarter profit estimates on slowing urban demand.
The company was the top percentage loser on the Nifty FMCG index, which was down 0.7%.
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Savio D’Souza and Sonia Cheema)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.