Indian shares near record highs as parts of country ease lockdowns

By Rama Venkat BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian shares rose on Monday to hover near the record highs hit in the previous session, as some states eased lockdowns and daily COVID-19 cases in the country hit a two-month low. The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index climbed 0.29% to 15,715.55 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex added 0.17% to 52,187.10 by 0446 GMT. Last week, both the indexes rose more than 1% each to notch their third straight weekly gain. Energy and auto stocks also supported the Nifty 50 index, with the Nifty Energy index rising 1.29% and the Nifty Auto index jumping 1.07%. "With lockdowns getting lifted and the economy coming back to normal, we remain optimistic on the market," said Samrat Dasgupta, chief executive of Esquire Capital Investment Advisors. While India`s capital city New Delhi announced a partial easing of a lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s home state of Gujarat relaxed curbs on commercial activities. The country`s richest state of Maharashtra, which saw the most infections during the second wave, plans to start easing in stages this week from a strict lockdown imposed in April. Daily COVID-19 cases in India have seen a downward trend since early-May, with data over the weekend showing that fresh infections stayed below the 200,000-mark for over a week. On Monday, it reported 100,636 new cases, the lowest in two months. Among other stocks, Bajaj Finance Ltd fell 4.3% and was the top drag to the Nifty 50. The company said last week it expects the second COVID-19 wave impacting growth in assets under management of 40 billion rupees ($549.77 million) - 50 billion Indian rupees ($687.21 million) for the fiscal year 2022. ($1 = 72.7575 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)

Indian shares near record highs as parts of country ease lockdowns

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