Earnings-led boost lifts India's blue-chips higher

BENGALURU, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Indias blue-chip indexes recovered from a lackluster start to end Monday with gains, helped by a results-led boost to key constituents after heavyweight Reliance posted a bigger quarterly profit late last week.

The NSE Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) closed 0.49% higher at 19,140.90, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) rose 0.52% to 64,112.65.

Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), which has nearly 10% weightage in Nifty 50, rose 2.06% after posting a 27.4% rise in consolidated profit in the second quarter.

“In a market where most stocks are trading well above historic valuations, Reliances fair relative valuations are an attraction,” wrote analysts at JP Morgan.

The oil-to-telecom conglomerate led the gains in energy (.NIFTYENR), oil & gas indexes (.NIFOILGAS), which were up over 1% each.

Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL.NS) gained 3.57% and Cipla (CIPL.NS)

added 1.64%, after reporting strong quarterly earnings.

“The rise in todays session was led by some of the largest counters like Reliance, Cipla, BPCL as their stable earnings reiterate that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with those businesses, despite the recent market underperformance of some of these companies,” said Deven Choksey, managing director of KRChoksey Holdings.

Ten of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced. The more domestically focussed small- (.NIFSMCP100) and mid-caps (.NIFMDCP100) underperformed the blue-chips, adding 0.15% and 0.09%, respectively.

Asian markets were subdued, as caution ahead of U.S. Federal Reserves policy decision on November 1 added to worries over Middle East conflict.

In India, Adani Green Energy (ADNA.NS) and KPIT Technologies (KPIE.NS) jumped over 5% each on posting rise in quarterly earnings.

On the flipside, SBI Card (SBIC.NS) fell 5.07% while Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services (MMFS.NS) lost 11.47%, on logging weak results.

UPL(UPLL.NS) settled 3.58% lower after reporting a surprise loss in second quarter, in the final hour of trade.