Indian shares extend gains as IT, Reliance offset broad slide

BENGALURU, July 18 (Reuters): Indian shares closed higher on Tuesday, advancing for the fourth session in a row, as gains in IT stocks and by Reliance Industries offset a broad sectoral decline.
The Nifty 50 rose 0.19 per cent to 19,749.25, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.31 per cent to 66,795.14. Both benchmarks rose over 0.5 per cent during the session to hit new all-time highs before trimming some of the gains.
Ten of the 13 major sectoral indexes logged losses, with media and public sector banks losing 1.84 per cent and 1.23 per cent, respectively.
HDFC Bank, which jumped 1.5 per cent during the session after strong June quarter results, closed marginally lower, dragging the high-weightage financials down 0.19 per cent.
IT stocks were the exception, rising over 1 per cent, led by Infosys climbing 3.67 per cent after signing a five-year artificial intelligence deal with a target spend of $2 billion. The stock was also the Nifty's top gainer for the day.
The IT index has logged gains for four sessions since last week's US inflation data on hopes that the Federal Reserve's monetary tightening is nearing its end.