BENGALURU: Indian shares advanced on Wednesday, boosted by gains in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and ITC, while investors shifted their focus to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision due later in the global day.
The Nifty 50 index settled 0.50% higher at 19,778.30, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.53% to 66,707.20.
Eleven of the 13 major sectoral indexes logged gains with consumer stocks and public sector banks adding over 1% each.
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Fast-moving consumer goods firm ITC recovered after a three-day losing streak, adding 2.15%. The stock fell 6% in the last three sessions after announcing plans to spin off its hotel business.
L&T climbed 3.33% to hit a record high on strong first-quarter results and approval of a share buyback plan. L&T and ITC were among the top Nifty 50 gainers.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries rose 1.63% after a report said the Qatar sovereign fund was in talks for a stake in the company’s retail arm.
“The consolidation in the markets over the last few sessions is very healthy,” said Anita Gandhi, director at Arihant Capital. “There could be room for re-rating of valuations in domestic equities due to strong earnings performance in domestic-linked sectors and stable macro fundamentals.”
In contrast to Indian equities, Asian peers were subdued ahead of an expected Fed rate hike, due to be announced at 11:30 p.m. IST.
“Recent encouraging (U.S.) inflation data has led to optimism that the Fed hike on Wednesday could be the last. Traders will be looking for confirmation from the central bank,” said Rahul Sharma, head of technical research at Equity99.
Among individual stocks, Can Fin Homes tumbled 9.40% after the housing finance firm said employees at one of the branches committed a fraud of about 385.3 million rupees by transferring funds into different personal bank accounts.
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