01-01-1970 12:00 AM | Source: Reuters
Indian shares hit over 1-wk high as metals gain
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Indian stocks hit an over one-week high on Wednesday, lifted by gains in metals and financials, while foreign investors turning net buyers of domestic shares also helped the sentiment.

The Nifty 50 index was up 0.45% at 18,133.90 as of 11:13 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.51% to 60,964.81.

Metal stocks in domestic trading advanced as much as 1.3%, benefitting from China's flurry of policies, rolled out to assist homebuyers and property developers and relieve a long-running liquidity squeeze in the industry.

"This will boost demand for construction materials and ultimately for metals," said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice-president, research, at SMC Global Securities.

Hindalco Industries and Tata Steel rose over 2% each to be the top gainers on the Nifty 50.

"Global newsflows would continue to dominate outlook for the Indian metals sector," brokerage CLSA said in a note on Wednesday.

Heavyweight HDFC Bank led the climb on the Nifty 50, rising 1.7% to extend gains from the previous session after it reported an 18.5% jump in third-quarter profit over the weekend.

It was the first major domestic bank to report results and set the stage for a robust quarterly performance from banks.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors snapped their 17-day sales run, the longest streak in six months, purchasing 2.11 billion rupees ($25.85 million) worth of equities on a net basis on Tuesday. They had sold shares worth 246.51 billion rupees ($3.02 billion) since Dec. 23.

Domestic valuations are not cheap after India outperformed major global benchmarks last year. With China reopening its borders, funds are being reallocated to those markets where valuations are relatively attractive, analysts have said.

The blue-chip Nifty 50 index added 4.33% in 2022, while the MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe slumped 19.8%.