Indian shares edged higher to a record close for a third consecutive session on Tuesday, helped by gains in energy shares such as Reliance Industries Ltd and Coal India Ltd. Investor sentiment got a boost after India posted an 18.2 percent growth year on year in provisional net direct tax revenue collection in the first nine months of the fiscal year.
The broader NSE index closed 0.13 percent higher at 10,637, while the benchmark BSE index ended up 0.26 percent at 34,443.19. Reliance Industries ended up 1.3 percent, its sixth straight session of gains, while Coal India closed 5.8 percent higher. Coal India rose to its highest in 10 months after the company raised prices of non-coking coal across all its units. It expects an incremental revenue of about 19.56 billion rupees ($308 million) for the rest of the current fiscal year.
But caution prevailed ahead of the corporate results season kicking in this week. Tata Consultancy Services is due to post December-quarter results on Thursday, followed by Infosys on Friday. Among the gainers, energy shares advanced the most, with Nifty energy index rising as much as 0.8 percent. Coal India shares gained 6.1 percent and Reliance Industries Ltd rose 1.3 percent. ITC Ltd rose 1.7 percent and was among the top contributors to the index gains. Tata Motors Ltd rose 1.7 percent.