Indian shares ekes out gain; Coal India, Bajaj Auto advance

Indian shares ended little changed on Monday as investors took a breather after last session's rally following Moody's ratings upgrade for the first time since 2004.

nifty
A man walks past the NSE (National Stock Exchange) building in Mumbai, India. REUTERS

Indian shares ended little changed on Monday as investors took a breather after last session's rally following Moody's ratings upgrade for the first time since 2004.

Moody's Investors Services upgraded India's ratings to Baa2 from its lowest investment grade and changed the outlook on the rating to stable from positive citing a slew of structural reforms in the economy, which are expected to enhance the potential growth in the medium term.

The S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.05 percent at 33,359 while the broader NSE Nifty added 0.15 percent to 10,298.

Among the top Sensex gainers, Coal India rose 2 percent, Bajaj Auto advanced 1.1 percent, NTPC added 1 percent while Kotak Mahindra Bank rose 1.3 percent.

The S&P BSE Auto index rose 0.3 percent and the S&P BSE Healthcare index was up 0.2 percent and were among the top sectoral gainers.

Housing Development and Infrastructure advanced 0.23 percent after Morgan Stanley (France) bought 29.18 lakh shares or 0.7 percent equity stake at Rs64.26 each on Friday.

Biocon jumped 7 percent after the company said it got clean chit from the U.S. FDA for Bengaluru unit.

Equities in Asia started the week on the weak note, pressured by a retreat on Wall Street amid tax reform uncertainty.

Meanwhile the euro declined after German Chancellor Angela Merkel's push to form a coalition government collapsed.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was nearly flat in early trade.

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