Nifty edges up; Reliance Industries rallies

By Vishal Sridhar

(Reuters) - Indian shares were largely up on Wednesday, with Reliance Industries and automakers pushing the indexes slightly higher but a lack of clear drivers capped broader advances in other sectors.

Though markets largely welcomed the unveiling of a unified goods and services tax, other key events loom including the start of earnings reports later this month.

Sentiment was also impacted as Asian markets were subdued as simmering tensions on the Korean peninsula supported safe-harbours. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan.

"The markets are rangebound," said Neeraj Dewan, director of Quantum Securities.

"The positivity of GST is still not factored in by most sectors which will take some time."

The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.15 percent at 9,627.90, while the benchmark BSE Sensex was 0.05 percent higher at 31,224.68, as of 0748 GMT.

Reliance Industries rallied for the third straight session as analysts pointed to positive expectations on its quarterly results, while Brent crude oil remained below $50 per barrel. Reliance stock rose as much as 1.55 percent to its highest since June 22.

Automakers rose on hopes that the GST would lower their tax administration costs. Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd was among the top percentage gainers on the Nifty index. It jumped as much as 2.97 percent, its biggest intraday percentage gain in over a month.

(Reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)