Indian shares reverse course to end above 1%

Indian shares staged a mid-day reversal to end over 1 per cent higher on Tuesday, helped by gains in heavyweight information technology stocks and conglomerate Reliance Industries (RELI.NS).

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) closed 1.16 per cent higher at 17,315.50, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) rose 1.22 per cent to end at 57,989.30.

Both indexes had lost nearly 1 per cent on Monday on rising oil prices, and extended those losses in the first half of the current session.

However, a slight pullback in crude prices, buying in defensive information technology stocks and a gain of 2.6 per cent in bellwether Reliance helped lift equities.

The Nifty IT index (.NIFTYIT) added 1.96 per cent, only its third session of gains in eight, with Tech Mahindra (TEML.NS) ending as the top percentage gainer on the Nifty 50.

Investors also looked past the implications on domestic inflation due to the rise in oil prices. On Monday, the central bank governor said inflation was expected to moderate going forward despite “unimaginably uncertain” global prices.

State-controlled fuel retailers in India, which is the world’s third-biggest consumer and importer of oil, will raise petrol and diesel pump prices for the first time since November.