Indian shares close at record highs as IT stocks rally

By Sethuraman N R

BENGALURU, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Indian shares closed at all-time highs on Monday on the prospects of strong quarterly earnings from software outsourcers this week following an upbeat outlook from Tata Consultancy Services , the country's top IT services exporter.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index .NSEI rose 0.96% to 14,484 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex .BSESN climbed 1% to 49,269.32.

The Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT rose 3.3%, with TCS TCS.NS climbing 1.8% to hit a record high of 3,230 rupees after the company on Friday reported higher December-quarter profit. expectations of results from blue-chips are very high. The global markets are good and liquidity is also coming. The sentiment is so solid that markets are not concerned about valuations. This (up)trend is looking difficult to break," said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.

"Investors are not able to find a reason why they should not invest ... We are advising clients to book profits, have a balanced portfolio and invest in high quality large cap stocks" Nair said.

Shares of D-Mart operator Avenue Supermarts AVEU.NS rose 2.8% after the company reported a 16.4% jump in December-quarter profit over the weekend. (https:// major Infosys Ltd INFY.NS was the top boost to the Nifty 50 index, gaining 4.9%, while Wipro Ltd WIPR.NS and HCL Technologies HCLT.NS advanced 3.9% and 6.1%, respectively ahead of their earnings this week.

Tata Motors Ltd 's TAMO.NS shares ended 11.4% higher, lifting the Nifty auto index up by 2.61%

Shares of Burger King India Ltd BURG.NS fell 10%. The stock has fallen about 30% from a peak of 213.80, after a bumper listing in December. world shares slipped from record highs on Monday as caution over rising coronavirus cases saw some profit-taking from investors MKTS/GLOB