Indian shares rise on upbeat sentiment; IT leads gains on US rate cut hopes

By Bharath Rajeswaran

Sept 1 (Reuters) - India's equity benchmarks rose on Monday as better-than-expected domestic economic data encouraged investors, while information technology stocks led gains after data from the U.S. kept alive hopes of a Federal Reserve rate cut in September.

The Nifty 50 .NSEI rose 0.42% to 24,527.55 points and the BSE Sensex .BSESN added 0.39% to 80,124.78 as of 10:23 a.m. IST.

Investors took heart from a better-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.8% in the April-June quarter.

Fifteen of the 16 major sectors logged gains.

The broader, more domestically oriented small-caps .NIFSMCP100 and mid-caps .NIFMDCP100 rose about 1.1% after robust domestic economic data, and as investors picked up stocks following two weeks of underperformance.

Small-caps and mid-caps lost 1.8% and 1.4% in the last two weeks, lagging the Nifty 50's 0.8% drop.

"Backed by healthy domestic economic momentum and stable global cues, the market has begun the week on a firm note, though moves may turn stock-specific as the session progresses," said Mandar Bhojane, senior technical and derivative analyst at Choice Broking.

IT stocks .NIFTYIT rose 1.3% after data showed the U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) rose in line with estimates, keeping alive the expectations of a rate cut in September. The Federal Reserve tracks the PCE price measures for its 2% inflation target.

Lower interest rates in the U.S. make emerging markets such as India more attractive for foreign investors.

Meanwhile, a U.S. court ruling that most of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs were illegal also aided sentiment.

Among individual stocks, Torrent Power TOPO.NS rose 2.1% after securing an order worth 220 billion rupees ($2.51 billion).

PG Electroplast PGEL.NS gained 2.3% after the company signed a deal with the Maharashtra state government to invest 10 billion rupees in a mega project.

Sterlite Technologies STTE.NS lost 3.1% after a U.S. court ruled a $96.5 million fine against the company's U.S. unit for violating certain non-compete and confidentiality agreements.

($1 = 87.5060 Indian rupees)