BENGALURU: Indian shares opened higher on Wednesday as initial numbers raised hopes of strong March quarter corporate earnings, though there was some caution ahead of key domestic and global macroeconomic data due later in the day and through the week.

The Nifty 50 rose 0.27% at 17,770.40, as of 9:38 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.21% to 60,281.86. The Nifty 50 has risen over 4.5% in the past seven sessions, its longest winning streak in more than four months.

Eleven of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced, with high weightage financials rising 0.3%. Information technology stocks rose 0.1% ahead of the quarterly results of top IT firm Tata Consultancy Services Ltd later in the day.

Investors also await consumer inflation and industrial production data, due to be released after market hours.

India’s consumer inflation likely eased in March to 5.80%, dipping below the Reserve Bank of India’s upper tolerance limit for the first time in 2023, according to a Reuters poll.

Wall Street equities were mostly higher ahead of consumer price index data for March and minutes of the Fed’s latest policy meeting. Asian markets remained subdued.

Financials power Indian shares ahead of quarterly earnings

Among individual stocks, Sula Vineyards jumped over 6% after posting 15% YoY growth in sales of own brands in Q4 at 1.04 billion Rupees.

Shares of Titagarh Wagons and Bharat Heavy Electricals rose 3% each, after a consortium of the two companies was awarded an order for Vande Bharat trainsets by Indian Railways.