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Indian shares rose for a second consecutive session on Tuesday, their first back-to-back gains so far this month on upbeat Asian and European markets and as investors bought defensive stocks even though the sentiment remained broadly cautious back home.
Still, caution prevailed after disappointing corporate earnings in the July-September quarter, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been net sellers of $506.37 million worth equities so far this month.
"Global backdrop and sell-side figures from FIIs are creating an overhang on the market," said Gaurang Shah, Vice-President at Geojit BNP Paribas.
The broader NSE index ended higher by 30.95 points or 0.4 per cent at 7,837.55 after falling as much as 0.17 per cent earlier in the day. A second consecutive higher close would mark its first back-to-back gain since a three-session winning streak in October.
The benchmark BSE index ended up 104.37 points or 0.41 per cent at 25,864.47, after falling as much as 0.11 per cent earlier in the day.
Among BSE sectoral indices, FMCG index gained the most by 2.17 per cent, followed by metal 1.03 per cent, healthcare 0.79 per cent and infrastructure 0.75 per cent. On the other hand, consumer durables index was down 0.4 per cent, followed by IT 0.33 per cent, realty 0.27 per cent and banking 0.26 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were GAIL (+4.04%), ITC (+2.91%), Vedanta (+2.68%), Hindalco (+2.15%) and Tata Steel (+2.05%), while the major losers were Infosys (-1.77%), Dr Reddy's (-1.73%), Axis Bank (-1.32%), Bajaj Auto (-1.19%) and Hero MotoCorp (-1.00%).
ITC rose, building on Monday's gain of 2.57 per cent. The stock had lost 2.34 per cent last week.
ICICI Bank gained after India's biggest private sector lender by assets said it would sell a 6 percent stake in its life insurance joint venture in two separate deals worth a combined $296 million.
But Infosys was the biggest drag on the NSE index after the company warned in a conference call on Monday that it was seeing some margin pressure in the third quarter.
A report by SMC Global said: "Asian stocks gained early today, taking heart after seeing Wall Street take the attacks in Paris in stride and surged overnight, while expectations for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve in December kept the dollar on a bullish footing. Wall Street had its strongest session in three weeks on Monday, as investors bet Friday's attacks in Paris would have little long-term impact on the US economy and corporate earnings. Eurozone inflation turned positive in October, thanks to a slower pace of decline in energy prices. Consumer prices edged up 0.1 per cent from a year ago, reversing a 0.1 per cent fall in September, final data from Eurostat showed. The statistical office initially estimated nil growth for October."
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