BENGALURU, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Indian shares surrendered some of their earlier gains to close slightly higher on Wednesday as Nestle India's strong earnings boost consumer stocks, though lingering fears of high inflation and interest rates on corporate profits capped the increase.
The NSE Nifty 50 index ended up 0.14% at 17,512.25, while the S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.25% to 59,107.19.
Both indexes rose more than 0.5% earlier in the session and, despite the pullback, have now logged gains for four sessions in a row.
Meanwhile, The Indian rupee fell to record low versus the U.S. dollar, as surging U.S. Treasury yields prompted a broad rally in the greenback.
The Nifty fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) index gained 0.4%, led by a 1.8% jump in Nestle India after the consumer giant reported a bigger-than-expected rise in third-quarter profit.
Support for markets is seen coming from domestic investors buying, even as foreign institutional investors sold shares.
Foreign institutional investors sold a net of 1.53 billion Indian rupees ($18.6 million) worth of equities on Tuesday, while domestic investors bought 20.85 billion rupees worth of shares, as per provisional data available with the NSE.
Among stock, Housing Finance Development Corporation was the top gainer on the bluechip Nifty 50 index, rising 2.2%, while NTPC was the top loser, falling 1.74%.
Meanwhile Fitch Rating said India had adequate foreign exchange reserves and its current account deficit was likely to remain at sustainable levels, limiting any risk to its sovereign rating from external pressures. ($1 = 82.2910 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman and Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
