Indian shares end at over 9-month high as bank, auto boost

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BENGALURU — Indian shares settled at over nine-month high on Monday, led by gains in banks, automobile, and metal stocks, while sentiment also tracked strength in broader equities.

Thirty three of 50 stocks on the NSE Nifty 50 index finished higher, lifting the benchmark index 0.47% at 18,202.80. The S&P BSE Sensex was 0.39% up to 61,185.15.

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The benchmark indexes added nearly 2% each last week in their third straight weekly gain, mainly on the back of strong earnings reports.

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The market will be closed on Tuesday for a holiday.

Global stocks edged higher in volatile trade on Monday even though Beijing denied it would consider easing its zero-COVID policy. This stemmed safe-haven flows into the dollar ahead of potentially pivotal consumer inflation data this week.

Market participants this week will closely watch U.S. consumer prices data for October, which will offer cues to the Federal Reserve’s rate outlook.

Meanwhile, further helping domestic sentiment, data showed foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares for a seventh straight day.

They bought a net 14.36 billion Indian rupees ($175.20 million) worth of equities on Friday, while domestic investors sold 5.49 billion rupees of shares, as per provisional data available with the National Stock Exchange.

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In domestic trading, Nifty’s automobile, metal , and public sector bank closed between 1% and 4.5% higher. Heavyweights State Bank of India and Britannia Industries were the top gainers on the Nifty 50, rising 3.4% and 8.8%, respectively.

SBI reported a record quarterly profit and said it expects credit growth to remain in double-digits, while Britannia posted a 28.4% jump in second-quarter profit.

Divi’s Laboratories closed 8.9% lower and was the top percentage loser on the Nifty 50. The pharmaceutical firm

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an 18.6% fall in September-quarter profit.

State-run Coal India Ltd and digital payments firm Paytm were up 1.4% and 0.1%, respectively, ahead of their quarterly results. ($1 = 81.9620 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)