By Tanvi Mehta
(Reuters) - Indian shares edged up on Tuesday, with financials and pharma stocks boosting sentiment, but gains on the NSE index were capped by aluminium producers such as Hindalco Industries Ltd on lower global prices.
The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.16 percent at 10,601.70 as of 0536 GMT, while the benchmark BSE Sensex was 0.39 percent higher at 34,585.58.
"Metal stocks have corrected as a short-term reaction to global developments," said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Securities. "It clearly looks like some profit-booking in IT. Interest culminating to price performance can be seen in pharma."
Aluminium prices continued to fall after Washington gave U.S. customers of Russian producer United Company Rusal more time to close out their business with the company and comply with sanctions. The sanctions on Rusal had driven prices of the metal to their highest since mid-2011 recently on fears that the global market could face shortages.
Hindalco plunged as much as 9.3 percent, its biggest intraday percentage loss since early November 2016. Vedanta Ltd dropped as much as 5.5 percent, while National Aluminium Co Ltd lost nearly 11 percent.
The Nifty IT index, which gained 12 percent this month up to Monday's close, was more than 1 percent lower. Tata Consultancy Services was down 0.3 percent, after it hit a market capitalisation of over $100 billion in the previous session.
Financial stocks rose, with Yes Bank and ICICI Bank among top percentage gainers on both the indexes. Yes Bank climbed over 4 percent, while ICICI Bank was 2 percent higher.
Pharma stocks Lupin Ltd and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd rose 2 percent each.
Telecom tower company Bharti Infratel Ltd's shares fell as much as 3.8 percent after its profit in the March quarter missed analyst estimates.
(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)
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