India: Shares hit record high for 6th straight session

[MUMBAI] Indian shares hit a record high for a sixth consecutive session on Wednesday before succumbing to profit-taking as blue-chips, including lenders, rose on hopes the Federal Reserve could take a dovish stance in its post-meeting statement later in the day.

Housing Development Finance Corporation led gains with a 3.3 per cent rise, while IndusInd Bank advanced one per cent.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan hit a four-month high as soft business investment and corporate earnings stoked talk the Fed would have to acknowledge the more difficult environment in its policy statement at 1400 GMT.

"Fed meeting outcome would be dovish given its officials now seem to be more worried about rest of the world's outlook," said G Chokkalingam, founder of Equinomics, a research and fund advisory firm based in Mumbai.

The Reserve Bank of India's policy review on Feb 2 and the federal budget on Feb 28 are the next key events that markets would start pricing in, investors said.

The benchmark BSE index was up 0.1 per cent after gaining as much as 0.73 per cent to hit a record high of 29,786.32 earlier in the day.

The broader NSE index was higher 0.14 per cent after hitting an all-time high of 8,985.05.

REUTERS