Sensex, Nifty rebound after two days of losses

By Vishal Sridhar

(Reuters) - Indian shares were set to snap a two-day losing streak on Wednesday, led by gains in financials, despite lingering trade tensions between the United States and China that roiled markets in the previous sessions.

Asian stock markets picked up steam in afternoon trade after a wobbly morning session, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 0.4 percent.

The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.47 percent at10,760.55 as of 0553 GMT, while the benchmark BSE Sensex was 0.53 percent higher at 35,473.31.

"Markets are largely driven by global factors due to lesser domestic triggers," said Anita Gandhi, whole-time director at Arihant Capital Markets. "The Reserve Bank of India's OMO (open market operation) purchase should help improve liquidity in the markets and boost sentiment."

India's central bank said on Tuesday it would buy five government bonds worth up to 100 billion rupees ($1.47 billion) under its open market purchase on Thursday.

Financials led the gains on the indexes, with HDFC Bank Ltd and Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd on track to rise for a second straight session. The Nifty finance index was up 0.8 percent, on track to stem five days of losses.

Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd and Vedanta Ltd, the local unit of diversified mining group Vedanta Resources Plc, were the top percentage gainers on both the indexes, rising more than 2 percent each.

Investors were also waiting for the minutes of RBI's Monetary Policy Committee meeting, which is due after market hours. The RBI raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point at its last meeting, citing rising inflation risks.

"Looking at how the interest rates are moving, debt is also becoming equally attractive, and going forward, balanced funds would be a better option compared to pure equity ones from an investment perspective," Gandhi said.

($1 = 68.0300 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)