BENGALURU: Indian shares settled higher in a volatile session on Wednesday, as metal stocks gained on supply concerns from Russia and on hopes of stimulus from Chinese government.
The blue-chip index NSE Nifty 50 settled 1.01% higher at 21,453.95 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.98% to end at 71,060.31.
The Nifty opened lower and soon reversed course to trade higher, but was unable to sustain momentum and dropped as much as 0.5% during the session.
“Persistent foreign fund outflows is denting investor sentiments and leading to volatility in stock movements” said Rahul Sharma, head of technical research at Mumbai-based investment advisory firm Equity99.
Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers for three consecutive days, selling 31.15 billion rupees ($374.8 million) in the previous session, provisional data from NSE showed.
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The Nifty metal index rose nearly 3% on Wednesday, led by an over 4% jump in aluminium producer Hindalco Industries.
Lifting the sentiment, global aluminium prices surged for over two weeks, led by caution over Russia’s supply shortage and hopes of stimulus from China’s government.
“China’s expected stimulus to boost its economy is leading to a rise in global metal prices because of which we are seeing the rub-off effect on metal stocks today,” said Sneha Poddar, associate vice president at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Hindalco logged its busiest trading day so far this year. The company is witnessing robust demand across sectors, including electric vehicles, consumer durables, industrial manufacturing, infrastructure and construction, for which it supplies aluminium parts, Poddar added.
Other metal stocks - Tata Steel, JSW Steel - climbed 3.9% and 2.8% respectively, and were among the top gainers in the Nifty.
Twelve of the 13 major sectoral indexes settled in the green.
Among individual stocks, Indian Oil Corp, the country’s top refiner, surged 3.2% after it posted a third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates.
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