Indian shares edged up 0.4 percent on choppy Tuesday propped up by firm European equities, despite State Bank of India posting its biggest single-day loss in nine months a day after the top lender's quarterly earnings missed forecasts. European shares edged up early on Tuesday, with several companies rising after upbeat statements, and a supportive macroeconomic backdrop helping sentiment.
State Bank of India shed 4.4 percent after it announced late Monday flat quarterly profit on higher provisioning and said it would make similar set-asides in coming quarters to meet new guidelines. ICICI Bank closed 1.1 percent higher at 1,269.45 rupees. The 30-share BSE index gained 0.38 percent or 80.10 points to 20,932.48, with two-thirds of its components closing in the green. Net foreign fund investments in Indian equities have totalled $28.1 billion so far in 2010, pushing the main stock index up nearly 20 percent.
It is only around 275 points away from a new all-time high. Power Grid Corp jumped 5.5 percent to 103.75 rupees as Citigroup upgraded the stock to "buy" from "hold" while Macquarie upgraded the stock to "neutral" from "underperform". The state-run transmission utility's $1.7 billion share sale opened Tuesday. Outsourcers bounced back, with the sector index rising 1.1 percent after shedding 1.5 percent on Monday.
The 50-share NSE index gained 0.5 percent to 6,301.55 points.