Tech rebound leads Indian shares higher, blue-chip earnings eyed

By Chris Thomas

BENGALURU, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Indian shares rose on Monday after two weeks of heavy losses, as investors snapped up beaten-down technology stocks, with a slew of blue-chip earnings and the federal budget in focus.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index .NSEI climbed 1.41% to 17,342.7 by 0458 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex .BSESN rose 1.41% to 58,007.19. The indexes had dropped about 3% each last week.

The Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT, which had fallen in eight of the last nine sessions amid a tech sell-off on U.S. interest rate hike worries, climbed as much as 3.2% on Monday.

"We are mostly mirroring the U.S. market's strong close on Friday, but sustaining those gains will be tough considering that we have the budget tomorrow. We think it would be prudent to limit positions," said Ajit Mishra, vice president, research at Religare Broking.

Foreign investors have sold off heavily in the run-up to the budget on Tuesday, where analysts expect additional fiscal measures to boost demand amid a third wave of COVID-19 infections.

"As of now, indications are that we may see some more consolidation post the budget, as foreign investor data is not too encouraging," said Mishra.

The Nifty was set to finish January slightly lower while the Sensex was headed for a 0.5% drop, as losses seen in the last two weeks eclipsed sharp gains recorded in the beginning of the month.

Jefferies said valuations of Indian equities were still not in "the comfort zone" despite the recent correction driven by worries over the Federal Reserve tightening.

In early trading on Monday, India's most valuable firm Reliance Industries RELI.NS, which had lost 5.7% since reporting results earlier this month, rose as much as 2.6%.

Meanwhile, private-sector lender IndusInd Bank INBK.NS fell as much as 3.2% after reporting quarterly results.

AGS Transact Technologies AGST.NS dropped as much as 5.1% in its market debut.

Nifty components Tata Motors TAMO.NS, Indian Oil IOC.NS, BPCL BPCL.NS, Sun Pharma SUN.NS and UPL UPLL.NS will report their results later in the day.

(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Subhranshu Sahu)

((chris.thomas@thomsonreuters.com; +91-80-6749-8695;))

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