Sensex hits all-time high in record-setting spree

By Arnab Paul

REUTERS - Indian shares continued their record-setting spree on Tuesday, hitting all-time highs for the third time in five sessions, as investors remained bullish about the prospects of a good monsoon.

Monsoon rains are expected to arrive on the southern Kerala coast on May 30, two days ahead of the schedule, a source from the weather office said on Tuesday.

India looks likely to receive higher monsoon rainfall than previously forecast as concern over the El Nino weather condition has eased, an official from the weather office had told Reuters last week.

Local shares also tracked gains in Asian peers, which hit two-year highs on the back of an overnight rise on Wall Street.

"If you see now, investors are bullish about the market since corporate earnings have been in line with expectations as well as the anticipation of good rains this year," said Rakesh Tarway, head of research at Reliance Securities.

The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.26 percent at 9,469.5 as of 0551 GMT, while the benchmark BSE Sensex was 0.38 percent higher at 30,438.16.

IT stocks were the top gainers with the Nifty IT index rising as much as 1.1 percent. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd gained as much as 2.2 percent, while Wipro Ltd rose up to 1.3 percent.

Natco Pharma Ltd climbed as much as 3.1 percent after the Reserve Bank of India raised the foreign investment limit in the company to 49 percent from 31.5 percent.

Among the losers, Sun TV Network Ltd and Astrazeneca Pharma India Ltd dropped up to 2 percent each after U.S. investment service provider MSCI removed the stocks from its MSCI Global Small Cap Index on Monday.

(Reporting by Arnab Paul; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)