Indian shares set to advance with record high in sight

BENGALURU, June 28 (Reuters) - Indian shares are set to open higher on Wednesday, tracking gains on Wall Street after witnessing broad-based buying in the previous session, with the benchmark Nifty 50 inching towards an all-time high.

Indias NSE stock futures listed on the Singapore Exchange were up 0.25% at 18,858, as of 08:08 a.m. IST.

The Nifty 50 (.NSEI) is less than 0.5% shy of its all-time high level.

“After a brief consolidation last week, the Nifty is gaining momentum and attempting to make new highs,\” said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

“India VIX (volatility index) at a multi-month low of 10.82 is also supporting the market.”

While the Sensex hit a record high last week, the Nifty came within just one point of an all-time high of 18,887.60.

Financials powered the rally on Tuesday. Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC.NS) and HDFC Bank (HDBK.NS) are working towards completing their merger by July 1 and may set July 13 as the record date for swapping shares, HDFC said.

Wednesdays session will be the expiry for June derivatives series, after the National Stock Exchange revised the date. Indian markets will be closed on Thursday for the Eid holiday.

Wall Street equities edged higher overnight, as sentiment improved on strong economic data. Asian markets were mixed, dragged by lacklustre economic data from China.

On Tuesday, foreign institutional investors bought a net 20.24 billion rupees ($246.8 million) worth of Indian equities, while domestic investors sold 19.91 billion rupees of shares, as per provisional NSE data.

STOCKS TO WATCH:

** HDFC (HDFC.NS), HDFC Bank (HDBK.NS): Companies looking to complete merger by July 1, may set July 13 as record date for swapping shares.

** Reserve Bank of India eases restrictions on HDFC Credila, the education finance arm of HDFC.

** HDFC Life Insurance Company (HDFL.NS): HDFC buys 14.88 million shares (0.69% stake) in the company at 667.1 rupees per share.

** Gland Pharma (GLAD.NS): U.S. FDA issues Form 483 with one observation after inspections at Hyderabad plant.

** State Bank of India (SBI.NS): State-owned lender to buy entire 20% stake held by SBI Capital Markets in SBI Pension Funds.

** Titagarh Rail Systems (TITG.NS): Co gets letter of acceptance from Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation for order worth 8.57 billion rupees.

($1 = 82.0258 Indian Rupees)