Indian shares pare gains as investors book profits

BENGALURU, Jan 24 (Reuters): Indian shares erased gains, tracking a slide in financials as investors booked profits after strong quarterly earnings reports ahead of the federal budget due next week.

The Nifty 50 index closed flat at 18,118.30 on Tuesday, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.06 per cent to 60,978.75. Both benchmarks had risen nearly 0.5 per cent each during the session.

Their intraday trajectory followed the high-weightage financials, which closed 0.01 per cent higher, paring most of the intraday gains after rising as much as 0.62 per cent during the session.

Private lender Axis Bank Ltd fell 2.41 per cent despite posting a stronger-than-expected jump in third-quarter profit on Monday.