IT, commodities lift Indian shares; Maruti falls

BENGALURU: Indian shares rose on Thursday, with IT and commodity stocks leading the recovery from a three-day fall, while Maruti Suzuki dropped after the carmaker missed estimates for profit margins.

By 0505 GMT, the blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index was up 0.38% at 15,769.60 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was 0.36% higher at 52,630.67, also after the US Federal Reserve signalled it was in no hurry to taper stimulus.

Shares of Maruti Suzuki fell as much as 3.2%, their biggest intraday percentage drop since April 19, after the country's top carmaker missed estimates for quarterly profit margins on Wednesday as rising raw material costs eclipsed a robust revival in demand for its vehicles.

Indian shares end lower as IT stocks and Reliance drag

IT stocks gained 1.19%, led by Coforge Ltd , Oracle Financial Services Software and Tech Mahindra, all up between 1.2% and 5.4%.

Tech Mahindra will report results later in the day, while Oracle and Coforge posted higher profits and revenue earlier this week.

"We maintain our positive stance on IT today, ahead of Tech Mahindra's numbers. Further, so-called old-economy stocks like cement, steel and power are doing well, indicating that the economy is going to do well going forward," said Anita Gandhi, director at Arihant Capital Markets, Mumbai.

The Nifty Commodities Index, which includes several steel and cement companies such as Hindalco, Tata Steel and Ambuja Cements, was up 0.79%.

Chemical producer Tatva Chintan Pharma Chem nearly doubled in value in its market debut.

Apart from Tech Mahindra, investors will also focus on the results of TVS Motor Company, Colgate-Palmolive (India), LIC Housing Finance and PVR.

Asian shares managed a semblance of calm as the US Federal Reserve signalled it was in no rush to taper stimulus and said accelerating inflation remained the result of "transitory factors".