Indian shares ended higher for a third straight session on Tuesday, with sharp gains in IT stocks offsetting a slide in the metal index as investors eyed the start of corporate earnings for more cues.
The NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.29% higher at 18,055.75 and the S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.37% higher at 60,616.89. Both indexes are up roughly 4% so far this year.
The Nifty IT index closed up 1.03%, with all constituents finishing in the green, a day ahead of third-quarter earnings reports from heavyweights Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Infosys. The sub-index outperformed the benchmark indexes in 2021.
Shares of Hinduja Global Solutions added 6% after the IT services provider said it would consider a share buyback later this week.
Renewable energy firm Adani Green Energy settled up 10% after it said third-quarter operating capacity was up 84%.
Meanwhile, the Nifty metal index finished 1.8% lower as shares in JSW Steel and Tata Steel lost more than 3% each to be the top percentage losers on the blue-chip index.
Brokerage Jefferies downgraded Tata Steel to "hold" from "buy" and JSW Steel to "underperform" from "buy", and reduced their price targets as well.
Shares of Vodafone Idea crashed 20.5% after the telecom operator approved the conversion of spectrum interest and government dues into equity.
Meanwhile, daily COVID-19 cases in India rose by 168,063, although slightly lower than Monday's increase.
Analysts have said investors are not too worried about the COVID-19 situation as reports suggest the fast-spreading Omicron variant is not virulent and hospitalisation cases are very low.
