Auto, realty stocks power Indian shares ahead of March quarter earnings

Indian shares advanced on Monday, aided by auto and realty stocks following strong quarterly business updates, but rising odds of a U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike in May capped gains.

The Nifty 50 (.NSEI) rose 0.28% at 17,647.70, as of 9:51 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) rose 0.24% to 59,975.11.

The Nifty and the Sensex have risen nearly 4% over the past five sessions. Investors now await the corporate earnings for the quarter-ended March, scheduled to begin this week.

Ten of the 13 major sectorial indexes advanced, with auto stocks (.NIFTYAUTO) rising over 1%.

Tata Motors (TAMO.NS) surged 8% and was the top gainer in the Nifty, after several brokerages reiterated a "buy" rating and maintained positive view of the company after its business update for the March quarter. Tata Motors said JLR sales rose in Q4 as chip supply recovered.

Realty stocks (.NIFTYREAL) jumped over 2%. Sobha (SOBH.NS) climbed nearly 4% after its Q4 business update showed that quarterly sales rose to record high 14.63 billion rupees ($178.8 million).

"The market has been on an upward bias," said Prashanth Tapse, senior vice president (research) at Mehta Equities, adding that healthy foreign institutional investors' buying over the last few sessions and economic data have fuelled optimism.

FIIs have remained net buyers in each of the last six sessions, adding 47.39 billion rupees worth of equities over the period.

Wall Street equities rose on Thursday in a truncated week, ahead of U.S. jobs data, which was released on Friday.

The data indicated that the labor market remained tight in March, but was largely in line with expectations and increased the probability of a Fed rate hike in May.

The market is pricing in 68.3% chance of a 25 basis point rate hike in May, up from 49.2% on Thursday, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.