Indian shares climbed in choppy trade on Wednesday, with the benchmark BSE Sensex paring gains after hitting a life-high early in the session, as investor sentiment stayed positive on bullish global cues.
Asian shares rose on hopes that China would adopt a vigorous fiscal policy to compensate for external uncertainties while Wall Street gained overnight on strong quarterly results.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.2 per cent, reports Reuters.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd was among the top gainers on both indexes. Adani Enterprises Ltd was up 6.6 per cent.
Financial stocks also climbed with HDFC Ltd up 1.2 per cent after the company said it would consider raising of external commercial borrowings up to $1.5 billion.
The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.06 per cent at 11,141.3 as of 0634 GMT, while the BSE index was 0.20 per cent higher at 36,899.45.
The BSE index hit a life-high for the second straight session, at 36,928.06, earlier in the day.
Among the gainers, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance rose 6.70 per cent after brokerages forecast the insurer’s margins would expand in the following quarters.
Asian Paints Ltd hit a record of 1,490.60 rupees after reporting a 31 per cent growth in Q1 profit on Tuesday.
Bharti Airtel was the biggest drag on the indexes after rival Idea Cellular Ltd paid the department of telecommunications on Tuesday, clearing the way for its merger with Vodafone’s Indian unit.
Analysts expect highly competitive tariff plans from Idea-Vodafone that could further roil an already disrupted sector.
Cement makers also reversed the last session’s gains, with UltraTech Cement Ltd down 3.2 per cent while Grasim Industries was trading 2.2 per cent lower.
UltraTech closed 3.2 per cent higher in the previous session while Grasim ended up 8.5 per cent.
