Reliance, L&T, Tata Motors power Indian shares ahead of Fed decision

BENGALURU, July 26 (Reuters) - Indian shares advanced on Wednesday, boosted by gains in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Tata Motors, ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserves monetary policy decision.

The Nifty 50 (.NSEI) index was up 0.58% at 19,794.50, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) gained 0.65% to 66,789.13 at 10:03 a.m. IST.

All the 13 major sectoral indexes logged gains with auto index (.NIFTYAUTO) rising over 0.75%. Automaker Tata Motors (TAMO.NS) jumped as much as 4.06% to a record high after reporting a better-than-expected profit in the June quarter and a capital restructuring plan.

Index heavyweight L&T (LART.NS) climbed 3.71% to a record high on strong first-quarter results and approval of a share buyback plan. L&T and Tata Motors were the top Nifty 50 gainers.

Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) rose as much as 1.94% after a report said Qatar sovereign fund was in talks for a stake in the companys retail arm.

“The consolidation in the markets over the last few sessions is very healthy,” said Anita Gandhi, director at Arihant Capital. “There could be room for re-rating of valuations in domestic equities due to strong earnings performance in domestic-linked sectors and stable macro fundamentals.”

In contrast to Indian equities, Asian peers were subdued ahead of the Fed policy decision, due at 11:30 p.m. IST.

“Recent encouraging (U.S.) inflation data has led to optimism that the Fed rate hike on Wednesday could be the last, and traders will be looking for confirmation from the central bank,\” said Rahul Sharma, head of technical research at Equity99.

Among individual stocks, Can Fin Homes (CNFH.NS) tumbled as much as 7.3% after the housing finance firm said that employees at one of the branches committed a fraud of about 385.3 million rupees by transferring funds into different personal bank accounts.