May 27, 2020 / 1:37 PM
Sethuraman N R
BENGALURU, (Reuters) - Indian shares rose in volatile trading on Wednesday as investors sought bargains in beaten-down banking stocks, while Axis Bank gained after a report said private equity group Carlyle was in discussions with the lender for a fund infusion.
The Nifty banking index rose 2.5%, with Axis Bank advancing 5% and heavyweight ICICI Bank gaining 4%.
The index lost 8.3% last week and is down 44% so far this year as the sector, already under pressure from over $100 billion of bad debt, stares at more defaults by businesses hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Axis Bank shares rose as much as 6.2% in the morning after the Economic Times newspaper reported private equity group Carlyle may invest $1 billion for an 8% stake in the bank.
"Financials are seeing buying interest from institutional players. Banks especially are seeing some bottom fishing after being beaten down for the past few days," said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities.
Jasani, however, added that the medium-term outlook for banks remain weak.
The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.8% to 9,095.63 by 0537 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.9% to 30,889.
Asian shares slipped on concerns about rising tensions between the United States and China. MSCI 's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.4% at 0556 GMT.
The number of coronavirus cases in India surged past 151,700 as of Wednesday, with growth rate of new infections showing no sign of slowing even as the country starts to ease its strict lockdown.
Shares of Titan Company Ltd fell as much as 2.7% after the company said on Tuesday it saw "virtually zero sales" during the first six weeks of the lockdown. (bit.ly/36J84NP)
India's first-quarter GDP growth is likely to be its weakest since 2012, a Reuters poll predicted. (reut.rs/2M7jEZf) (Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

Sumber : Reuters