Indian shares closed at a record high on Tuesday, with the broader NSE index crossing 9,500 points intraday for the first time ever, as expectations of good monsoon rains eased inflation fears and bolstered the economic growth outlook. The benchmark BSE index closed 0.86 percent higher at 30,582.60, while the broader NSE index ended up 0.71 percent at 9,512.25 - marking a record closing high for both indexes for a second straight session.

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. 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 US investment service provider MSCI removed the stocks from its MSCI Global Small Cap Index on Monday.

Copyright Reuters, 2017