Feb 26 (Reuters) - Indian shares inched higher in early trade on Thursday, led by IT stocks as robust Nvidia earnings buoyed Asian tech stocks and lifted sentiment, although analysts expect risk appetite to remain muted amid a lack of domestic triggers.
The Nifty 50 rose 0.31% to 25,562.05 and the BSE Sensex added 0.28% to 82,507.91 as of 10:12 a.m. IST.
Fourteen of the 16 major sectors advanced in morning trade. IT index, which has declined about 20% in February as of Wednesday's close, rose 1.6%.
The broader small-caps and mid-caps gained 0.4% and 0.7%, respectively.
The benchmark's top three heavyweights, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries, traded flat.
Both the benchmark indexes added about 0.9% each in intraday trade on Wednesday, but gave up most of those gains to finish only marginally higher.
"Intermittent profit booking and absence of any fresh positive triggers are keeping the overall mood cautious," said Ajit Mishra, senior vice president of research at Religare Broking.
The market is in a consolidation phase and is likely to stay range-bound in the near term as it digests the sharp decline seen earlier this week, two analysts said.
Other Asian markets rose 0.5%, tracking an overnight uptick in Wall Street equities after Nvidia posted a 73% jump in quarterly revenue, beating estimates.
Oil prices rose, hovering near seven-month highs, as investors gauged whether the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks could avert a conflict that risks supply disruptions.
Among individual stocks, Shaily Engineering rose 3% on securing a contract worth 4.23 billion rupees.
Schaeffler India added 2%, following 4.4% gains in the previous session, on a quarterly profit jump.
Poonawalla Fincorp gained 2% after UBS initiated coverage with a "buy" rating.
Sanofi India lost 3.8% after reporting a year-on-year drop in profit in the December quarter.
Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Janane Venkatraman
Source: Reuters