Sensex inches higher; ITC, HDFC lead gains

By Vishal Sridhar

(Reuters) - Indian shares edged higher on Tuesday, unfazed by falls in Asia, led by gains in index heavyweights such as ITC Ltd and Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC).

Asian shares fell further as mounting trade tensions between the United States and other major economies continued to steer investors away from riskier assets.

The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.26 percent at 10,790.80 as of 0552 GMT, while the benchmark BSE Sensex was 0.26 percent higher at 35,562.06.

"India, not being a major manufacturing exporter, is able to stay resilient amid global trade war tensions. There is still some amount of pressure on midcaps, but the index heavyweights are holding up the markets," said Harendra Kumar, managing director at Elara Capital.

Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp and cigarette maker ITC rose over 1.2 percent each, driving gains in the indexes.

Nifty FMCG index gained over 1 percent and was on track to post gains for a second session in ten.

Coal India Ltd and Ultratech Cement Ltd were among the top gainers on the NSE index, rising over 2.5 percent each.

Shares of air-conditioner maker Voltas Ltd fell as much as 4.2 percent to a near one-year low following a report of Tata Group exploring options to divest up to 9 percent stake in the company.

Tata Motors Ltd was the top percentage loser on both the indexes, dropping over 2 percent to hit its lowest since February 2016, with a further downside seen on charts.

(Reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)