INDIA STOCKS-India's Nifty, Sensex higher as IT stocks, Titan rise

(Updates for morning trade) By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M BENGALURU, Oct 8 (Reuters) – India's stock benchmarks rose on Wednesday, lifted by IT stocks ahead of quarterly results and Titan after the jeweller reported an 18% rise in September-quarter domestic sales. The Nifty 50 rose 0.23% to 25,164.85, while the BSE Sensex added 0.29% to 82,156.91 as of 10:11 a.m. IST. Six of the 16 major sectors logged gains, while the broader small-caps and mid-caps traded flat. "The short-term uptrend of Nifty remains intact, but the market has started to show signs of profit booking from the higher levels, which could cap gains," said Nagraj Shetti, senior technical research analyst at HDFC Securities. The IT index gained 1.7% ahead of the quarterly results of the country's No. 1 software services firm Tata Consultancy Services on Thursday. TCS rose 2.1%. Titan jumped 4% after its pre-quarterly update, which Nomura termed "much better than estimated" since it came despite a high base and a rise in gold prices. "The broader market sentiment remains positive with investors tracking pre-quarterly business updates ahead of the September quarter results season," said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research of wealth management at Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Heavyweight financials and banks inched lower, dropping 0.1% and 0.2%, after rising in the last six sessions, helped by RBI's measures to boost bank lending and positive pre-earnings updates from banks for the September quarter. SBI Cards rose 2% after Motilal Oswal said asset quality and margins should improve on stronger economic activity and consumption from GST cuts. Salzer Electronics surged 13% after winning a patent for a compact high-voltage safety device, while Saatvik Green Energy gained 2.5% on a 4.88 billion-rupee solar module order. ($1 = 88.7680 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Nivedita Bhattacharjee )

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