Indian shares climb on Fed rate pause hopes

BENGALURU, July 14 (Reuters) - Indian shares inched higher on Friday, extending gains from the previous session when they scaled record highs, riding on broader positive sentiment on hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve would pause rate hikes.

The blue-chip Nifty (.NSEI) index was up 0.27% at 19,465.60, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) rose 0.25% to 65,719.87 as of 9:47 a.m. IST. If the gains hold, both the indexes are on track to advance for a third straight week.

A faster-than-expected slowdown in U.S. inflation reinforced bets that the Fed could end its rate hikes soon after July.

“We are seeing consolidation in the markets with Niftys immediate support around 19,300 and resistance around 19,550 levels but at the same time we are seeing rotational buying across sectors which is helping the index cap the damage from profit-taking,\” said Ajit Mishra, senior vice president for technical research at Religare Broking.

IT, metals, reality and pharma stocks still have some room for an upside, Mishra added.

Metal (.NIFTYMET), IT (.NIFTYIT), realty (.NIFTYREAL) climbed between 0.8% and 1.5%.

Among individual stocks, stockbroker Angel One (ANGO.NS) rose as much as 3.4% after reporting a jump in consolidated quarterly profit.