Indian shares snapped a nine-session losing spree to end higher on Tuesday, with pharmaceutical stocks among the top boost, a day after the country's retail inflation data brought hopes of a key interest rate cut in June. Annual retail inflation in April was 2.92%, lower than Reuters poll prediction of 2.97%, and as it remained below the central bank's target for a ninth month. The benchmark BSE index closed up 0.61% at 37,318.53, while the broader NSE index ended 0.66% higher at 11,222.05.
Both indexes shed over 5% in the nine sessions ended Monday. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd rebounded from the previous session's slump to end 5.36% firmer.
Annual retail inflation in April was 2.92%, up from the provisional 2.86% in the previous month, keeping hopes alive for a key interest rate cut in June.
"We are expecting RBI to cut the policy rate in June, but ongoing market and geopolitical volatility could cause the INR to weaken and oil prices to spike, getting in the way of a dovish central bank," Radhika Rao, economist at DBS, said in a note.
Vodafone Idea Ltd fell as much as 5.88% after the telecoms company said its subscriber base dropped on Monday.
Nifty IT index was down 0.75%, with Tech Mahindra Ltd and Infosys Ltd down 1.6% and 1.1% respectively.
Among gainers, Nifty's pharma index rose 0.62%, led by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd's 3.2% gain. Sun Pharma recorded its worst session in nearly two years on Monday, on a day when the pharma index closed 4.37% lower after US states filed price-fixing lawsuit against Teva, along with 19 other drug companies accusing the Israeli co of inflating generic drug prices.
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