Indian shares ticked 0.4 percent higher on Wednesday, buoyed by firm world equities, but the gains lacked conviction as foreign funds mostly passed up Indian equities on concerns rising interest rates could stifle the pace of economic growth. Financials rebounded after declining earlier this month. The banking sector index recovered 0.5 percent in the day, but is still down 3.7 percent for the month.
Ranbaxy Laboratories jumped 6.1 percent after the top drugmaker by sales reported a lower-than-expected fall in quarterly net profit late on Tuesday. The 30-share BSE index climbed 0.39 percent, or 72.19 points, to 18,584,96 points, with 23 of its components closing in the green. It swung between positive and negative territory in the day. The 50-share NSE index, or Nifty, firmed 0.4 percent to 5,565.05. Industrial output in Asia's third-largest economy probably rose 3.8 percent in March from a year earlier, helped by strong exports and infrastructure output but weighed by a high base effect, the median forecast in a Reuters poll showed.
Foreigners have dumped more than $1 billion of stocks in nine out of the 11 sessions to Monday, latest data from the market regulator showed. After the market closed for trade, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the economy may not grow around 9 percent in the current fiscal year to end-March 2012 due to volatility in international commodity prices and other supply constraints. Gainers beat losers in the ratio of 1.4:1 in the broader market on a volume of nearly 500 million shares on the NSE, lower than the 30-day average daily volume of 659 million shares.