IT stocks lead Indian shares to fresh highs

BENGALURU, July 17 (Reuters) - Indian shares rose to fresh all-time highs, led by IT stocks on hopes of an end to the U.S. Federal Reserves policy tightening, while weakness in Asian markets on lacklustre economic data from China capped gains.

The Nifty 50 (.NSEI) index rose 0.33% to a record high of 19,629.05, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) gained 0.28% to 66,249.14, as of 10:08 a.m. IST.

Ten of the 13 major sectoral indexes logged gains with the low-weightage media index (.NIFTYMED) jumping over 2%.

The high-weightage information technology (IT) index (.NIFTYIT) extended gains for the third session in a row, jumping 1.5% as easing inflation in the United States have raised hopes the Fed may soon pause its rate hiking cycle.

IT firms earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S. and European geographies.

\“We continue to remain highly optimistic on domestic equities due to robust foreign inflows, rise in new retail investors and moderation in U.S. inflation,\” said G Chokkalingam, managing director for research at Equinomics Research.

Foreign portfolio investors have bought Indian equities worth 306.60 billion rupees in the first half of July, on course to extend their buying streak for a fifth straight month.

Among individual stocks, Dr. Reddys Laboratories (REDY.NS) rose 2% and was among the top Nifty 50 gainers after the drugmaker entered into an agreement for the consumption and supply of renewable energy with TEQ Green Power XI and O2 Power SG.

On the other hand, JSW Energy (JSWE.NS) lost over 4% after reporting a drop in the June-quarter consolidated net profit.

Domestic brokerage Angel One (ANGO.NS) fell 5% after National Stock Exchange slapped a penalty on the firm and prohibited the stockbroker from onboarding new authorised persons for six months.

Asian equities, meanwhile, were subdued, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) falling 0.4% after Chinas GDP rose at a lower-than-expected rate in the June quarter.

Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil, Janane Venkatraman and Sohini Goswami

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