Feb 10 (Reuters) - Indian equity benchmarks climbed for a third straight session on Tuesday, extending recent gains as early indications of a recovery in foreign portfolio inflows following a trade agreement with the United States lifted investor sentiment.
The Nifty 50 rose 0.26% to 25,935.15, while the BSE Sensex added 0.25% to 84,273.92. The blue-chip indexes have gained nearly 1.2% each in the last three sessions and more than 4% in the six sessions since New Delhi and Washington announced a long-awaited trade deal.
The broader small-caps and mid-caps, which gained 0.4% and 0.5% respectively on the day, have added 5.6% and 5.3% in these six sessions.
"Improving sentiment around renewed foreign inflows, strength in U.S. markets, and optimism surrounding the interim India-U.S. trade framework are providing near-term support," said Aakash Shah, technical research analyst at Choice Equity Broking.
Foreign investors purchased Indian shares worth 22.55 billion rupees ($248.6 million) on Monday, provisional data showed. They have bought $1.7 billion of Indian equities so far in February, after three consecutive months of selling.
Twelve of the 16 major sectors advanced on Tuesday. Auto stocks rose 1.4%, while metals added 0.8%.
Elsewhere, Asian markets rose on the day, with MSCI's broadest index for Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan climbing 0.6%, while Japanese stocks soared to a record high, still buoyed by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's decisive election victory over the weekend . [MKTS/GLOB].
Among local stocks, exchange operator BSE jumped 6.3% as higher transaction revenue drove a sharp increase in its third-quarter revenue and profit.
Edelweiss Financial Services and Wakefit Innovations jumped 6.3% and 8%, respectively, on upbeat quarterly earnings, while Ramco Cements fell 3% as its December quarter results failed to impress investors.
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Ronojoy Mazumdar)
By Vivek Kumar M
