Indian shares rebound from virus-led decline; metals, drugs gain

BENGALURU: Indian shares rebounded on Tuesday from a sharp decline in the previous session, as investors looked past surging coronavirus cases and bought into metals and pharmaceutical stocks, while global market sentiment also remained upbeat.

The western state of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, has accounted for more than half of India's active COVID-19 cases in recent days, prompting authorities to impose stringent curbs and stoking fears about its impact on economic growth.

New daily infections in India reached nearly 97,000 on Tuesday, down from Monday's tally of more than 100,000.

"Maharashtra seems to be an outlier state. If they are able to curtail the spread in the next two weeks, things should not be so worrisome," said Rusmik Oza, head of fundamental research at Kotak Securities in Mumbai.

"We're optimistic with the (financial) results season about to start. The kind of activity we've seen in February and March has been very good, across manufacturing, imports, exports and IT services," he said.

The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.45% to 14,704.00 by 0500 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.37% at 49,341.90. Each index had fallen about 1.5% on Monday.

Stocks across most sectors rose, with metals adding 1.36% amid firmer commodity prices globally. JSW Steel climbed 3% and was among the top gainers on the Nifty 50.

Pharmaceutical stocks, among the few sectors to have fallen year-to-date, were up 1.13%.

Separately, investors await the outcome of the central bank's monetary policy committee meeting on Wednesday.

In other domestic news, the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the territory of Puducherry began voting on Tuesday to elect local governments. Elections in the eastern states of Assam and West Bengal are ongoing.

Shares elsewhere in Asia were higher following another batch of strong US economic data.