Indian shares end largely flat; TCS jumps

BENGALURU: Indian shares ended mostly unchanged on Tuesday, as losses in banks nearly offset gains in metal stocks and Tata Consultancy Services, which surged after a report that Walmart may buy a stake in Tata Group's new digital platform.

The broader NSE Nifty 50 index ended 0.05pc lower to 11,222.40 and the S&P BSE Sensex ended unchanged at 37,973.22.

Both the indexes have risen nearly 4pc in the past two sessions.

Walmart Inc is in talks with Tata Group for an investment of up to $25 billion in the Indian salt-to-software conglomerate's new "super app", Mint newspaper reported earlier in the day.

"Markets are going to play around in a tight range until next week's Supreme Court hearing on loan moratorium case and Reserve Bank of India's policy meeting," said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.

The RBI said on Monday it was postponing its monetary policy meeting that was scheduled between Sept. 29 and Oct. 1.

India's top court will hear a case on waiving interest rates on loans under a moratorium on Oct. 5.

Shares of Tata Consultancy Services rose as much as 3.5pc.

The Nifty metals index rose for a third straight session, ending up nearly 2pc, on hopes of demand from top consumer China.

The Nifty bank index was down 1.2pc and the public sector bank index fell 2.2pc.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were largely up, but European shares slipped on Tuesday as investors awaited the first US presidential debate and eyed progress of a fiscal stimulus package in Washington.