IT buoys Indian shares as US rate concerns ebb; Adani stocks fall

BENGALURU, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Indian shares rose marginally on Thursday, led by information technology stocks on easing rate concerns in the U.S., although caution ahead of the gross domestic product (GDP) data for the June quarter capped gains.

The Nifty 50 (.NSEI) index was up 0.05% at 19,360.50 at 10:23 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) rose 0.08% to 65,137.47.

Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS) and Adani Ports (APSE.NS) were the top Nifty 50 losers, shedding 3.5% and 2.5%, respectively.

The decline comes after a report by a non-profit media organization said that millions of dollars were invested in some publicly traded stocks of Adani Group through opaque Mauritius funds that obscured the involvement of alleged business partners of the Adani family.

The conglomerate said it rejected the report in its entirety.

The more-domestically focussed small-caps (.NIFSMCP100) and mid-caps (.NIFMDCP100) outperformed the blue-chips, rising 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively, and hit record highs.

Analysts said that the momentum in small- and mid-caps is likely to continue due to strong earnings, healthy retail inflows and anticipation of steady near-term returns.

“We reiterate a negative view on the benchmark index, but advise investors to stay stock-specific due to the prevailing outperformance of the broader indexes,\” said Ajit Mishra, senior vice president - technical research at Religare Broking.

High weightage IT index (.NIFTYIT) gained 0.5% on easing rate concerns in the United States after second-quarter GDP data indicated the cooling of the economy. Indian IT firms earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S..

Among individual stocks, Jio Financial Services (JIOF.NS) was locked at a 5% upper circuit for a third session in a row, on multiple block deals.

Investors await domestic GDP data for the June quarter, due post-market hours. Indias economic growth likely accelerated to 7.7%, a Reuters poll showed.