May 13 (Reuters) - Indian shares rose on Wednesday after four sessions of steep losses, led by gains in gold and silver ETFs after a hike in import tariffs, though high crude prices and persistent foreign outflows limited gains.
The Nifty 50 rose 0.14% to 23,412.60, while the BSE Sensex added 0.07% to 74,608.98.
Ten of the 16 major sectors logged gains. The small-caps and mid-caps rose 0.3% and 0.8%, respectively.
The Nifty and Sensex had lost about 4% each over the past four sessions as the U.S.-Iran deadlock pushed crude prices higher and heightened concerns over the economic fallout from the conflict.
"Near-term market trajectory will be driven by oil, inflation trends and Iran war developments, while the environment and dip-buying reflects selective risk-taking than broad-based optimism," said PL Capital.
Brent crude, up 48% since the Iran war began in late February, hovered near $107 a barrel, raising concerns over inflation and the current account deficit in India - the world's third-biggest oil importer. [O/R]
The rupee weakened to an all-time low on persistent foreign outflows and macroeconomic worries due to higher oil prices.
Foreign portfolio investors have offloaded shares worth $23.14 billion from Indian markets, surpassing the record high annual outflows in 2025.
India raised gold and silver import tariffs to 15% from 6%, to ease foreign-exchange pressure and boosting related ETFs as physical imports get costlier.
Nippon India Gold ETF, Tata Gold ETF, HDFC Gold ETF and ICICI Prudential Gold ETF jumped 5%-6%.
Tata Silver ETF, Nippon India Silver ETF and HDFC Silver ETF also climbed between 6% and 8%.
The metal index jumped 3.2%, as firmer global metal prices and a stable domestic demand lift sentiment.
The IT index, which lost 3.7% in the previous session, slid 1.1% on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng, Janane Venkatraman and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
By Bharath Rajeswaran
