Indian shares snap five-day losing streak, Reliance gains

BENGALURU: Indian shares rose more than 1% on Tuesday after five sessions of falls, boosted by Reliance Industries after the company said it expected to get approvals by the second quarter of the next fiscal year to hive off its oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business.

The NSE Nifty 50 index was up 1.17% at 14,848.60 by 0510 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex climbed 1.14% to 50,305.46. Other Asian stock markets inched lower as rising US Treasury yields and inflation prospects dented investor mood.

"Globally, rising crude prices and bond yields are a cause of concern, but these are short-term negatives and things are looking up in India," said Rusmik Oza, head of fundamental research at Kotak Securities.

Indian equities rose sharply in the first two weeks of this month thanks to solid corporate earnings and a well-received federal budget, before trimming some of the gains due to profit-taking.

"As long as the growth story is not hurt, we can expect markets to trade in this range," he said.

Reliance Industries was the top boost on the Nifty 50, rising more than 2% after the conglomerate said it expected approvals for the spin-off of its O2C business by the second quarter.

Among major sectoral indexes, the Nifty energy index advanced the most, rising as much as 2.56% led by a 6.5% jump in Oil and Natural Gas Corp.

The Nifty metal index rose for a second straight session, up 1.6%, amid a rally in copper prices that has been fuelled by hopes of a pick-up in demand.

Analysts said the rally in commodity prices was supporting risk appetite.

Shares of Tata Motors jumped more than 5% after reports that the car maker expected to fare much better than the domestic auto industry in the next financial year.

On the Nifty 50, lender Kotak Mahindra Bank was the top drag, falling 2.3%.