By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M
(Reuters) -Indian shares rose on Wednesday, tracking Asian peers, after softer U.S. retail inflation boosted bets of a Federal Reserve rate cut in September, while easing domestic price pressures also supported sentiment.
The Nifty 50 rose 0.5% to 24,602.9 points and the BSE Sensex gained 0.38% to 80,526.94, as of 10:00 a.m. IST.
Fourteen of the 16 major sectors logged gains. The broader small-caps and mid-caps gained about 0.6% and 0.8%, respectively.
Asian markets rose on the day, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index gaining 0.9%.
Wall Street closed higher on Tuesday after U.S. consumer prices increased marginally in July, up 0.2% month-on-month. The in-line print lifted September Fed rate cut odds to 94% from 86% a day earlier.
Lower U.S. rates typically boost the appeal of emerging market equities, including India, as yields on U.S. Treasuries fall.
India’s retail inflation dropped to an eight-year low of 1.55% in July, slipping below the Reserve Bank of India’s tolerance band of 2%-6%, driven by falling food prices.
“The undertone in the market is bullish as positive cues from lower CPI reading in India and steady U.S. inflation boosted sentiment,” said Prashanth Tapse, senior vice president of research at Mehta Equities.
Among individual stocks, Apollo Hospitals climbed 6% after posting a rise in June-quarter profit on higher patient volume.
Aluminium and copper producer Hindalco gained 4.3% after it beat quarterly profit view on strong demand.
Nykaa jumped 4% after reporting a two-fold rise in quarterly profit on beauty products demand.
Paytm advanced 3.6% after announcing its subsidiary Paytm Payments Services received an in-principle approval from the RBI to operate as an online payment aggregator.
Bharat Dynamics gained 3% after posting a rise in June quarter results, helped by a strong order book and easing supply chain issues.
($1 = 87.5800 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng, Ronojoy Mazumdar and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
