Nifty, Sensex end higher on upbeat start to earnings season

Reuters
Updated
A broker laughs while speaking to a colleague, as they trade on their computer terminals at a stock brokerage firm in Mumbai

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian shares ended higher on Wednesday as investors looked forward to upbeat September-quarter earnings from companies in the backdrop of the government's corporate tax cut last month.

The September-quarter earnings season has so far seen blue-chip companies such as Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Wipro Ltd and ACC Ltd beat estimates.

Earnings were in-part helped by the government's move to slash corporate taxes last month.

The broader NSE Nifty ended 0.31% higher at 11,464, while the benchmark BSE Sensex finished up 0.24% at 38598.99.

IT stocks led gains in the indexes after Wipro Ltd's quarterly earnings beat estimates on Tuesday, giving hope to investors of similar companies in the sector.

HCL Technologies, which will report earnings next week, ended 1.5% higher.

The Nifty IT index rose 0.9% at close.

Hero Motocorp, which was the top loser in the Nifty index, closed 2.74% lower.

(Reporting by Derek Francis in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)