Indian shares ended higher on Monday after scaling record peaks earlier in the session, with Burger King India soaring more than 100% in its market debut and gains in drugmaker Cipla helping boost the Nifty.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index ended up 0.33% at 13,558.15 while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.34% to 46,253.46. Including today's session, both indexes have now hit record highs in 16 of 24 sessions.
Indian shares have posted six straight weeks of gains, boosted by record inflows from foreign institutional investors, progress on COVID-19 vaccines globally and signs of a nascent economic recovery in the country.
Shares of Burger King India, which runs the franchise of Restaurant Brands International Inc's U.S. chain Burger King, more than doubled in value in their market debut and ended at 135 rupees, nearly 2.3 times the initial public offering price of 60 rupees per share, signalling upbeat sentiment for the country's food services sector.
Cipla Ltd closed 4.4% higher and was among the top percentage gainers on the Nifty, after the company on Friday said it had settled patent litigation with Bristol-Myers Squibb unit Celgene over cancer drug Revlimid.
Cipla's move helped the Nifty Pharma Index end 0.76% higher.
The government is also set to release retail inflation data for the month of November later in the day. India's retail inflation remained above 7% in October for a second straight month.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.1% as investors cheered progress on coronavirus vaccines, extension of Brexit talks, and gauged the chance of added U.S. fiscal and monetary stimulus.
