Indian shares rise; FIIs turn net buyers

Indian stocks climbed in early trade on Wednesday, as investor sentiment was boosted by foreign investors turning net buyers of domestic shares after offloading funds in their longest selling streak in six months.

The Nifty 50 index NIFTY was up 0.14% at 18,079.40 as of 9:23 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex SENSEX rose 0.10% to 60,716.53.

Foreign institutional investors snapped their seventeen-day sales run, purchasing 2.11 billion rupees ($25.85 million) worth of equities on a net basis on Tuesday. They had sold shares worth 246.51 billion rupees ($3.02 billion) since Dec. 23.

Domestic valuations are not cheap after India outperformed major global benchmarks last year, and with China reopening its borders, funds are being reallocated to those markets where valuations are relatively attractive, analysts have said.

The blue-chip Nifty 50 index added 4.33% in 2022, while the MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe IIACWI slumped 19.8%.

Sustained gains in shares, however, will be seen if foreign investors continue to allocate funds to the market.

Metal stocks CCNXMETAL in domestic trading advanced 1%, the most among other sectors. Hindalco Industries HINDALCO and Tata Steel TATASTEEL rose 2% and 1.8%, respectively, to be among the top gainers on the Nifty 50 so far.

($1 = 81.6300 Indian rupees)