MUMBAI (NewsRise) -- Indian shares rebounded from near one-month lows on Tuesday, led by State Bank of India, Tata Motors, and pharmaceutical companies.
The BSE Sensex rose 0.1% to 34,651.24 and the Nifty 50 Index advanced 0.2% to 10,536.70. It was a choppy session for both the indices as they changed direction several times.
State Bank of India ended 3.7% higher. While the country's biggest lender by assets reported a loss of 77.18 billion rupees ($1.1 billion) for the March quarter, the increase in gross non-performing assets on a sequential basis was lower than many analysts had expected. Gross non-performing assets increased to 10.91% of total advances, lower than the 11.5% expected by brokerage Motilal Oswal.
Tata Motors added 3.8% after Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the plan, that China decided to cut import duty on cars to 15% from the current 25%. For Tata Motor's unit Jaguar Land Rover, China is the biggest market along with the U.S.
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories advanced 6.3%. While India's third-biggest drug maker by sales reported a 3.3% decline in net profit for the March quarter, analysts pointed to the positive outlook for the company's generic business.
Among other pharmaceutical companies, Cipla advanced 0.9%, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries climbed 2.1%, and Lupin rose 0.6%.
Losses in index heavyweights ITC, Reliance Industries, and Housing Development Finance Corp., down up to 0.5% each, limited the upside on the Sensex.
The cues from rest of the region were tepid with major markets South Korea and Hong Kong closed on Tuesday. The Nikkei Asia300 Index declined 0.3% as investor attention turned toward the outlook for U.S. interest rates with minutes of the May Federal Reserve meeting due Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the National Stock Exchange of India approached a court in Mumbai for an interim injunction against Singapore Exchange's new India derivative products to be launched in June.
Among other movers on the BSE on Tuesday, Bosch's India unit advanced 2.8%. The auto component company reported a 13.5% on-year increase in revenue for the March quarter and an expected 1.5% decline in net profit.
Indian Oil dropped 2.3% after the fuel retailer said March quarter net profit rose a less-than-expected 40%.
--Nimesh Vora
