Metals and financials lift Indian shares higher

By Manvi Pant

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian shares ended higher on Wednesday, aided by gains in heavyweight financials and metal stocks, with investor focus shifting to key earnings from Nifty 50 companies this week.

The benchmark NSE Nifty 50 and the S&P BSE Sensex indexes each settled about 0.2% higher at 22,402.4 and 73,852.94, respectively.

The blue-chips have been gaining for four straight sessions after a global rebound on easing concerns over the Middle East conflict, with investors now eyeing key earnings from Nifty 50 constituents such as Hindustan Unilever and LTIMindtree.

Ten out of the 13 major sectoral indexes ended higher on the day.

Metals led sectoral gains, rising 2.7% to a record high, tracking an upswing in global demand.

Financials gained 0.5%, with top private lender HDFC Bank rising 0.3%. Axis Bank also rose 0.7% ahead of its results on Wednesday.

Company results will likely be the main trigger for the next two to three sessions, while metals are expected to do well on strong demand from China, said Samrat Dasgupta, CEO at Esquire Capital Investment Advisors.

Nifty 50 constituents Hindalco , JSW Steel and Tata Steel rose between 2.9% and 4% and were the top percentage gainers.

The more domestically-focused small- and mid-caps outperformed the benchmarks to trade 0.4% and 0.8% higher, respectively.

(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Sonia Cheema and Savio D'Souza)