Indian shares gain as IT, financials rebound outweighs Reliance's slide

BENGALURU, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Indian shares rose on Monday, as a rebound in IT and financial stocks outweighed the slide in Reliance Industries following spin-off Jio Financials weak trading debut.

The Nifty 50 (.NSEI) index settled 0.43% higher at 19,393.60, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) added 0.41% to 65,216.09.

IT stocks (.NIFTYIT) gained 1.09%, rebounding from a 1.47% tumble on Friday on worries about higher U.S. interest rates.

“A lot of good mid-cap IT firms, which were at lofty valuations, have corrected massively in the last 10-12 months making them attractive buy opportunities at the current levels,” said Aishvarya Dadheech, chief investment officer at Fident Asset Management.

Financials (.NIFTYFIN) rose 0.46% after a seven-day losing run in which they shed about 3%. Bajaj Finance (BJFN.NS) gained 2.75%, snapping a five-session losing streak.

On the flip side, Jio Financial (JIOF.NS) tumbled 5% in its market debut and closed at the lower circuit. That led parent Reliance (RELI.NS) 1.44% lower, with both stocks among the top Nifty losers.

The more domestically focussed smallcaps (.NIFSMCP100) and midcaps (.NIFMDCP100) outperformed the blue-chips, adding 0.63% and 0.82%, respectively.

“Broader markets are supported by earnings visibility and brisk trading activity on strong near-term returns,” said Deven Choksey, managing director at KRChoksey Holdings, adding that “investors are willing to pay a premium for growth”.