Indian shares climbed for a fourth consecutive session on Tuesday, their longest winning streak in three months, as global appetite for risk perked up on hopes for containing Greece's debt problems. Trading, however, was choppy, indicating resistance after a more than 5 percent rally over four days, with domestic headwinds such as high inflation and rising interest rates causing unease.
The 30-share BSE index closed up 0.43 percent or 80.04 points at 18,492.45, with 21 components advancing. It had fallen 0.5 percent at one stage. Financials led the rise after a disappointing performance so far in the year. The sector index firmed 0.2 percent, but is down 6.3 percent in 2011. The 50-share NSE index gained 0.3 percent to 5,545.30.
Around 594 million shares were dealt on the NSE, slightly higher than the 90-day daily average volume of 592 million shares, while gainers beat losers in the ratio of 1.2 to 1. The BSE index has bounced over the past few days thanks to short-covering and moves by fund managers to boost their portfolio before the quarter ends.
But the benchmark is down early 10 percent in the year to date on worries of slowing earnings growth as higher borrowing costs douse demand. The central bank has raised key rates by 275 basis points in 10 moves over 15 months. Foreign funds were net buyers of $335 million over two days to Friday, after pulling out $688 million over nine sessions.
Cairn India ended down 0.7 percent as investors worried about loss of revenue due to royalty payments, after Vedanta Resources Plc completes a take-over. Top lender State Bank of India gained 0.7 percent, while rivals ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank rose 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent respectively.
Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp climbed 2.3 percent. The BSE index is headed for its second annual decline in a decade as persistently high inflation, rising interest rates and slowing growth keep investors at bay, a Reuters poll showed last week.
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