By Bharath Rajeswaran and Manvi Pant
BENGALURU (Reuters) -India’s benchmark indexes notched record closing highs on Tuesday, buoyed by gains in heavyweight information technology stocks amid prospects of a U.S. interest rate cut in September and a strong earnings outlook.
The NSE Nifty 50 rose 0.11% to 24,613, while the S&P Sensex closed 0.06% higher at 80,716.55.
The blue-chip indexes rose about 0.3% to hit all-time highs earlier in the session.
“The bias for domestic equities remains positive, aided by strong earnings outlook and rising hopes of early U.S. rate cut,” said Harsha Upadhyaya, chief investment officer and president at Kotak Mahindra Asset Management.
IT stocks gained 0.6%, helped by expectations of a U.S. rate cut in September and a positive earnings outlook for the sector following Tata Consultancy Services and HCLTech’s first-quarter results.
IT companies earn a significant share of their revenue from the United States, and a rate cut in the world’s largest economy could spur further foreign inflows into Indian equities.
While the benchmarks advanced, nine of the 13 major sectors logged losses on the day.
Small- and mid-caps erased gains after hitting record highs earlier in the session to end flat.
The upward momentum in domestic equities is likely to continue ahead of the national budget on July 23 but bouts of profit booking at current levels cannot be ruled out, said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services
Consumer stocks gained about 1%, led by a 2.6% climb in Hindustan Unilever after the company divested its water purification business in a deal worth $72 million.
Bajaj Auto gained about 2% after reporting a nearly 20% rise in June-quarter profit on strong domestic sales and recovery in exports. The stock trimmed gains to close 0.5% higher.
Indian markets are closed on Wednesday for a local holiday.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami, Janane Venkatraman, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Eileen Soreng)
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