India's Nifty, Sensex rally to record highs on U.S. inflation data

BENGALURU, July 13 (Reuters) - Indian shares rallied to record highs on Thursday, tracking their Asian peers after a moderation in U.S. inflation boosted sentiment and outweighed concerns over higher-than-expected domestic inflation.

The Nifty 50 (.NSEI) index rose as much as 0.76% to a new all-time high of 19,532.25 as of 9:48 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) rose 0.80% to a fresh record 65,916.83.

The rally extended to broader markets, with smallcaps (.NIFSMCP100) hitting a fresh 52-week high, while the midcaps (.NIFMDCP100) rose to a record high.

Asian markets surged, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index (.MIAPJ0000PUS) jumping nearly 2%, following overnight gains in Wall Street equities after the U.S. consumer price index for June logged the smallest rise in over two years.

The moderation in U.S. inflation outweighed concerns over the rise in domestic retail inflation in June, as well as demand weakness flagged by top IT firms Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) and HCLTech (HCLT.NS).

TCS, however, rose over 1% after reporting higher-than-expected first-quarter profit, while HCLTech lost over 1% after posting weaker-than-expected earnings.

Wipro (WIPR.NS) which reports later in the day was up 0.22%, helping lift the IT stocks (.NIFTYIT) up over 1%, which gained in part due to the brighter U.S. outlook.

Besides Wipro, Federal Bank, Tata Metaliks and Angel One are among the companies reporting their results on Thursday.

\“June quarter earnings would be crucial to determine the future course of markets,\” said Sandeep Bagla, CEO of Trust Mutual Funds, a financial services provider.

\“Investors will monitor volume growth as well as margin expansion for cues on the pricing power of companies.\”

Among individual stocks, SpiceJet jumped over 5% after top shareholder, Ajay Singh, said he would infuse 5 billion rupees into the airline.

Patanjali Foods (PAFO.NS) lost 5% after its largest shareholder said it would sell up to 9% of its stake in the edible oil maker to meet rules on minimum public shareholding.

Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Sohini Goswami

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