Indian shares hit record highs as ICICI Bank climbs; HDFC Bank weighs

BENGALURU: Indian shares touched record highs on Monday as private sector lender ICICI Bank hit a nine-month high, although losses in larger rival HDFC Bank weighed.

The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.18% to 13,282.85 by 0500 GMT, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.15% at 45,145.82.

Both indexes had registered five straight weeks of gains amid news of progress in coronavirus vaccines.

"There is really no negative news at the moment, and investors are maintaining the status quo.

The expectation is that things will get better from a liquidity perspective," said Umesh Mehta, head of research at Samco Securities in Mumbai.

"Unless something really negative happens, on the vaccine front, there should not be any major correction."

ICICI Bank Ltd was the top boost to the main indexes, climbing 2.7% to its highest since March 4.

ONGC climbed 4.6% to its highest since early March after it said on Friday its overseas arm made a "significant strike of oil" in its block in Colombia.

Pfizer's Indian arm rose as much as 2.5% after a top government health adviser said the US drugmaker had applied for emergency use authorisation of its COVID-19 vaccine in India.

HDFC Bank Ltd dropped 1.8% to its lowest since mid-November and was the biggest drag on the indexes.

Credit ratings agency Moody's said HDFC Bank's multiple digital outages, which prompted the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday to curb the lender's digital and credit card operations, were credit negative.

Meanwhile, Asian shares retreated from a record peak on Monday after a Reuters report the United States was preparing to impose sanctions on some Chinese officials highlighted geopolitical tensions.