Sensex, Nifty Pare Early Gains; IT Stocks Top Gainers

Indian shares ended flat to marginally higher on Tuesday, paring early gains.

Global cues were mixed as investors awaited the all-important U.S. CPI data later in the day for clues on when the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates.

The dollar steadied after recent losses and oil edged up amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, prompting some profit taking at higher levels.

Traders also awaited cues from India’s industrial production (IIP) data for January and retail inflation data for February due after the market close.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex hit a high of 74,004.16 in intraday trading before closing up 165.32 points, or 0.22 percent, at 73,667.96.

The broader NSE Nifty index settled 3.05 points, or 0.01 percent, higher at 22,335.70 after having hit a high of 22,452.55 earlier in the day.

IT stocks surged, with Infosys, TCS and LTIMindTree climbing 1-2 percent.

HDFC Bank jumped 2.3 percent on reports the private sector lender is gearing up for the long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) of its subsidiary HDB Financial Services.

Among the prominent decliners, SBI, Adani Ports, Cipla, Grasim and Adani Enterprises fell 2-3 percent.

ITC dropped 1.8 percent on reports that British American Tobacco (BAT) is preparing to offload a portion of its stake in the company this week.