Financials help Indian shares extend gains to new highs

BENGALURU, July 4 (Reuters): India's blue-chip Nifty 50 index advanced for a sixth session in a row on Tuesday, as gains from financials and sustained foreign inflows helped offset a bout of profit-taking.
Both the Nifty and the S&P BSE Sensex hit record highs for a fourth consecutive session before briefly paring gains as investors booked profits. The Nifty 50 has risen 3.88 per cent in six sessions, while the Sensex has gained 3.98 per cent in five.
The benchmarks recovered, with the Nifty 50 climbing 0.34 per cent to a record closing high of 19,389, while the Sensex gained 0.42 per cent to settle at its all-time closing high of 65,479.05.
"India remains the preferred destination for investments as reflected by strong foreign inflows in the past few months," according to Jahnavi Prabhakar, economist at Bank of Baroda.
The concerns over slow post-Covid economic recovery in China have also led to foreign inflows into India and Japan, she added.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have bought Indian equities worth 1,144.67 billion Indian rupees ($13.96 billion) on a net basis in fiscal 2024 so far. In contrast, FPIs sold equities worth 1,400.10 billion rupees and 376.32 billion rupees in fiscal 2022 and 2023, respectively.
Eight of the 13 major sectoral indexes logged gains, with high-weightage financials adding 0.79 per cent. Banks gained 0.32 per cent to close at a record high and public sector banks rose nearly 2 per cent.
Non-banking finance company Bajaj Finance led the rise in financials, jumping over 7 per cent after reporting a 34 per cent growth in new loans for the June quarter.