Financials, IT stocks buoy Indian shares
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BENGALURU - Indian shares opened higher on Monday after closing out the previous week on a weak note, as financials rebounded and IT stocks regained some lost ground, although the domestic coronavirus tally reached nearly 25 million cases.
The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.57% to 14,761.05 by 0356 GMT, up after three straight sessions of falls, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex advanced 0.55% to 49,005.37. Last week, they lost 0.9% each.
Indian health ministry data on Monday showed 4,106 deaths over the last 24 hours and total cases of 24.97 million, even as some states on Sunday said they would extend COVID-19 lockdowns.
Private sector lenders HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were the top boosts to the Nifty, while the Nifty PSU Bank index advanced nearly 2% - the most among sectoral indexes. On Friday, the sub-index slid 2% amid a sell-off in Indian equities.
The Nifty IT index rose 0.3% after three straight sessions of losses, with IT major Infosys adding more than 1%.
Shares of Nifty component Bharti Airtel were down 0.77% ahead of earning results later in the day.
Asian equities were mixed as data on Chinese retail sales missed expectations though industrial output stayed solid, while more evidence of global inflation pressures helped gold scale a three-month peak.[MKTS/GLOB]
