Indian shares close at record high as metals rally, Reliance jumps

Indian shares extended their record-high closing streak to a third day on Monday, driven by a Tata Steel-led rally in metal stocks, and as Reliance Industries rose after a report said it was in advanced talks to sell stake in the company.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index ended up 0.21 per cent at 16,563.05 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.26 per cent to 55,582.58.

Shares of Reliance rose 1.3 per cent after Bloomberg News reported Saudi Aramco was in advanced talks to acquire a 20 per cent stake in the Indian conglomerate’s oil refining and chemicals business for about $20 billion to $25 billion in Aramco’s shares.

The Nifty energy index settled up 0.55 per cent during the session.

The Nifty Metal index ended 1.5 per cent higher, led by Tata Steel that hit a record high of 1534.5 rupees.

The steelmaker last week reported a consolidated net profit of 97.68 billion rupees ($1.32 billion) in the June quarter, compared with a loss of 46.48 billion rupees a year earlier. Brokerages also raised their target prices on the company’s expectations for better realisations in both India and Europe.

Hindustan Zinc, which ended up 3.1 per cent, and Vedanta, which rose 2.4per cent, were the other top gainers in the sector.

“Metal has seen a lot of action the past few weeks, and there are a lot of triggers for that, the most important of them being a demand revival across the board, whether it is raw material or real estate,” said Gaurav Garg, head of research at CapitalVia Global Research.

Global shares slid on Monday after a raft of Chinese economic indicators showed a sharp slowdown in the engine of global growth.