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Reliance Industries lifts Indian shares higher

Bharath Rajeswaran
Updated ·2-min read
People watch a large screen displaying India's benchmark share index on the facade of BSE building in Mumbai

By Bharath Rajeswaran

BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares advanced on Monday, as a broad sectoral decline was offset by heaavyweight Reliance Industries as it firmed plans on the demerger of its financial services business and its retail unit approved a reduction in equity share capital.

The Nifty 50 index settled 0.12% higher at 19,355.90, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.10% to 65,344.17.

Only two of the 13 major sectoral indexes logged gains with metals rising over 1.5% and oil and gas rising over 0.5%.

The rise was led by the oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries, which climbed nearly 4% after the company's unit Reliance Retail approved a share capital reduction.

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The retail arm is reported to have been valued at $92-$96 billion by two global consultants, in a move that could hint at an eventual public offer.

The company also set July 20 as the record date for the demerger of its financial services business into Reliance Strategic Investments. This demerger has "value-unlocking potential" for the company, per analysts.

Information technology (IT) index lost over 1%. "IT firms are likely to post weak June quarter earnings while margin pressures will continue," said Saptarishi Mukherjee, assistant vice president for research at BOB Capital Markets.

The brokerage cut ratings on HCLTech, Persistent Systems, Coforge and Affle India to "hold" from "buy" and flagged more earnings downgrades in the sector post the June quarter results due to a reduction in clients' spending.

Tata Consultancy Services and HCLTech will report their June quarter numbers on July 12 while Wipro's earnings are due on July 13. HCLTech and Tata Consultancy Services were among the top Nifty 50 losers.

Titan Company lost over 3% and was also among the top Nifty 50 losers after global brokerage Morgan Stanley flagged concerns about jewellery demand.

($1 = 82.6100 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)