BENGALURU, July 19 (Reuters) - Indian shares advanced on Wednesday, aided by broad sectoral gains, while investors awaited the June-quarter earnings of top firms, due later this week.

The Nifty 50 index rose 0.38% to 19,824.25, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.40% to 67,065.50, as of 9:53 a.m. IST. Both the benchmarks hit fresh all-time highs for the fourth session in a row.

Twelve of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced, with media stocks rising over 1.5%, after TV18 Broadcast and Network18 Media & Investments jumped over 10% and 5%, respectively, after their results.

High-weightage information technology (IT) stocks extended gains for the fifth session in a row, adding over 0.5%. IT stocks have risen on hopes of the U.S. Federal Reserve nearing the end of its monetary policy tightening cycle after data released last week indicated moderation in inflation.

IT firms earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S. and Europe.

"Expect the gradual up move in the market to continue given the positive macroeconomic factors and healthy earnings so far," said Siddhartha Khemka, head - retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

"Investors should utilise the 'buy-on-dips' strategy at record high levels."

Among individual stocks, NTPC rose over 4% and was the top Nifty 50 gainer after brokerage Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of the stock with a "buy" rating and identified it as the top pick in the power sector.

IndusInd Bank

rose

as much as 3.82% after beating quarterly profit view on loan growth and a drop in provisions.

Several Nifty 50 constituents including Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, Ultratech Cement , Ashok Leyland, Reliance Industries , Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank are scheduled to report their results later this week.

The rise in Indian shares, on Wednesday, is in contrast to the weakness in Asian peers on growth concerns over China.

($1 = 82.0990 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)