By Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran
(Reuters) -India’s benchmark shares inched higher in early trade on Monday, as heavyweight banking and financial stocks climbed after strong quarterly business updates from lenders over the weekend.
The Nifty 50 and the BSE Sensex were up 0.22% each at 24,948.95 and 81,388.01 points, respectively, as of 10:03 a.m. IST.
Seven of the 16 major sectors rose, with private banks and financials jumping 0.8% each.
Kotak Mahindra Bank rose 1.5%, the most on the private banks index, and HDFC Bank, the heaviest weighted stock on the Nifty 50 index, added 0.6%. The two reported loan disbursal growth of 15% and 10%, respectively, for the September quarter.
Bajaj Finance jumped 3% and was the top Nifty gainer after it said its assets under management increased by about 24% year-on-year during the July-September quarter.
“The quarterly business updates from public sector banks and non-bank lenders have been strong, while private sector banks too were largely in line,” said Dharmesh Kant, head of equity research at Cholamandalam Securities.
“Overall, this will keep the sentiments on the positive side going into the earnings season,” Kant said.
The broader mid-caps and small-caps were little changed.
However, gains in the short-term could likely be capped, analsyts said, following the previous week’s surge in the benchmarks that was driven by firming bets of a U.S. rate cut and the Indian central bank’s lending reforms.
The Nifty and the Sensex had gained 1% each in the week ended October 3.
Among other stocks, drugmaker Lupin fell 2% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration classified its Pithampur unit-2 manufacturing facility as needing regulatory and/or administrative action.
Investors will also keep an eye on the primary market as two large issues – Tata Capital and LG Electronics India – will open for subscriptions this week.
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Janane Venkatraman)
