BENGALURU, Jan 11 (Reuters) - India's benchmark indexes Nifty 50 and Sensex rose on Thursday, led by energy stocks and tracking a rebound in their Asian peers, as investors awaited key U.S. inflation reading for cues on interest rates.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 added 0.19% to 21,659.10 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.17% to 71,782.04, as of 10:24 a.m. IST.
"While we remain constructive on Indian equities, the ongoing consolidation will likely continue in the near-term after the recent rally, with earnings likely to trigger stock-specific moves," Pankaj Murarka, chief investment officer at Renaissance Investment Managers, said.
Reliance Industries' shares rose as much as 1.55% to a new record high for a second session in a row.
The oil-to-telecom conglomerate's stock, which has a weightage of 32.87% in the energy index, powered it 1.1% higher.
Goldman Sachs reiterated "buy" on Reliance on Wednesday, citing gains from a tight refining cycle, resilience in chemical business and structural growth in consumer and tech businesses.
The brokerage downgraded other oil and gas companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, and Indian Oil Corporation, citing likely moderation in earnings growth and high valuations.
IT stocks fell 0.2%, ahead of the quarterly results of market leaders Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, due post market hours on Thursday.
IT companies' forecasts will be in focus as their results are expected to be subdued on weak spending by key U.S. clients.
U.S. inflation data, due later in the day, will also be on investors' radar.
A soft print will likely fortify bets of a rate cut in March, making equities, and IT stocks in particular, attractive.
The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.85%, after falling for seven consecutive sessions.
Among individual stocks, Polycab slumped 20%.
India's tax department said it found unaccounted sales of 10 billion rupees at a wire and cable maker, which a government source told Reuters, was Polycab.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
