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The benchmark BSE Sensex ended higher by over 100 points and the NSE index Nifty above the 10,200 level led by PSU, power, infrastructure and oil & gas stocks amid weak European cues.
However, selling pressure in IT, healthcare, consumer durables and TECk stocks restricted the upmove. Traders remained wary ahead of quarterly earnings from Infosys, and a few other bluechip companies.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended higher by 100.62 points or 0.31 per cent at 32,607.34 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed up by 22.85 points or 0.22 per cent at 10,207.70.
Among BSE sectoral indices, PSU index was the star-performer and was up 1.8 per cent, followed by power 1.28 per cent, infrastructure 1.25 per cent and oil & gas 0.63 per cent. On the other hand, IT index fell 0.76 per cent, healthcare 0.41 per cent, consumer durables 0.31 per cent and TECk 0.22 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Asian Paints (+4.1%), State Bank of India (+3.56%), NTPC (+2.83%), ONGC (+2.56%) and HUL (+1.81%), while the major losers were Tata Motors (-1.54%), Infosys (-1.37%), Sun Pharma (-1.07%), Lupin (-0.98%) and M&M (-0.81%).
Key corporate earnings
Investors have been eagerly awaiting the last quarter's results after strong gains in share markets this year pushed valuations for the NSE index's price-to-earnings (PE) ratio to 21.3, well above the historic five-year average of 16.8.
The results also come at a time when the economy has slowed to a more than three-year low due the lingering impact of a ban on high-value currency notes late last year and the rollout of a national goods and services tax.
“People are expecting earnings to match the valuations this quarter,” said Jayant Manglik, president, Religare Securities.
“This will be a litmus test for financial stocks to see the final effect of demonetisation.”
Asian shares held within a striking distance of recent decade highs on Tuesday even as Wall Street fell from record levels, while currencies kept to narrow ranges ahead of key economic events.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.1 per cent firmer at 549.71 points, not far from a 10-year high of 554.63 set last week. Australian shares also edged higher and back toward a 5-1/2 month peak touched on Monday, while Japan's Nikkei fell 0.2 per cent from a 21-year high.
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