India shares hit four-month highs as IT, banks upbeat
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Indian shares scaled four-month highs on Thursday, with technology and banking stocks leading the pack after a softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data eased fears of aggressive rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
The NSE Nifty 50 index, with most of its major sub-indexes in the positive territory, climbed 0.83% to 17,681.05, as of 0449 GMT, and the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.94% at 59,371.43.
"The optimism came on the back of a U.S. consumer inflation rate that eased in July after hitting the peak a month before, raising hopes that the Fed will slow down the pace of interest rate hike," said Prashanth Tapse, research analyst at Mehta Equities.
Nifty's IT index was up 1.5% after tech-heavy Nasdaq closed 2.89% higher. IT service providers Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro gained between 1% and 2%.
Nifty's public sector bank index snapped a five-day losing run and climbed nearly 3%. Top lender State Bank of India's 1.6% gain, was among the drivers of Nifty index rally.
Among others, airline companies InterGlobe Aviation Ltd and SpiceJet Ltd rose as much as 2.3% and 6.9%, respectively.
India's civil aviation ministry on Wednesday announced removal of fare caps it imposed on domestic airlines during the COVID-19 pandemic from the end of August.
State-run coal miner Coal India added as much as 3.2% after it reported an over two-fold increase in quarterly profit. (https://bit.ly/3bMmS53)
Investors are awaiting the domestic Consumer Price Index (CPI) data due on Friday. India's retail inflation likely eased in July due to a fall in food and fuel prices, a Reuters poll showed.
Equities in broader Asia tracked Wall Street higher on Thursday on the U.S. inflation report. The U.S. CPI, in the 12 months through July, increased by a weaker-than-expected 8.5% after a 9.1% rise in June. [MKTS/GLOB]
