Financials lift India's Nifty to second straight record high in six-day winning streak

By Bharath Rajeswaran

BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares recovered from a weak start to finish higher for a sixth session in a row on Tuesday, led by financials, with the benchmark Nifty 50 hitting a record high for the second session in a row.

The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.42% to a record high of 22,215.60, its seventh time so far this year. The index ended 0.34% higher at 22,196.95, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.48% to 73,057.40.

The indexes shrugged off a drop of 0.2% in the first hour of trade to extend their winning streak to a sixth straight session, their longest winning run in 10 weeks.

"Strong fund flows from domestic investors and persistent buying-on-dips have kept the markets buoyant and powered Nifty 50 to record highs despite lacklustre global cues," said Narendra Solanki, head of fundamental research of investment services at Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers.

The broader, more domestically focussed small- and mid-caps shed 0.53% and 0.13%, underperforming the benchmarks.

Volatility hovered around the 10-month high of 16.58.

It will continue to remain elevated, with bouts of corrections likely in small- and mid-caps as they have run up ahead of fundamentals, Solanki added.

Financials, the heaviest-weighted among the 13 major sectoral indexes, added 1.23%.

HDFC Bank led both financials and the Nifty 50 higher, rising 2.63% after several analysts reiterated their "buy" recommendation, citing a likely rebound in earnings growth.

On the other hand, IT stocks shed 0.87%, extending losses for the second session on fading hopes of an early U.S. rate cut.

Auto stocks dropped 0.62%, after jumping 5.5% in the last five sessions.

Zee Entertainment rose about 8% after a media report said the broadcaster is making a final attempt to revive its failed $10 billion merger with Sony's India unit.

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza, Sonia Cheema and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)