By Bharath Rajeswaran and Hritam Mukherjee
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares reversed early losses to hit record highs on Thursday, as UltraTech Cement jumped after announcing a stake purchase in rival India Cements and as index heavyweight Reliance Industries continued its recent rally.
The NSE Nifty 50 was up 0.32% to 23,945 points as of 10:25 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.35% to 78,948.25 points, both hitting record highs.
The indexes had declined 0.2% in the opening minutes of the session.
Indian equity benchmarks scaled record closing highs in the last two sessions, boosted by financials.
India’s top cement manufacturer by capacity Ultratech Cement jumped 4.3% after the company said it would buy a 23% stake in India Cements for 18.85 billion rupees ($226 million). Ultratech was the top Nifty 50 gainer. India Cements surged 12%.
The second-heaviest Nifty 50 stock, Reliance Industries, which rose 4% in the previous session, was up 1.25%.
“The momentum for Nifty looks positive, largely due to increasing interest in large-caps and banks,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research of broking & distribution at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
With financials and banks seeing investor interest, the rally to record highs will continue due to their higher weightage, Khemka said.
Financial services and private sector banks rose 0.5%. The second-largest private lender by market capitalisation, ICICI Bank, gained 1% and was on course to log gains for the eighth session in a row.
Drug maker Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories rose 2% after announcing the acquisition of Nicotine replacement brands from global consumer healthcare company Haleon.
Agricultural chemicals maker PI Industries rose 2.6% after announcing an offer to acquire UK-based firm Plant Health Care in a deal for about 32.8 million pounds ($41.44 million).
($1 = 83.5050 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
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