INDIA STOCKS-Indian shares open higher as global banking fears ease

Adds opening levels

BENGALURU, March 28 (Reuters) – Indian shares opened higher on Tuesday, tracking a rise in global equities on easing concerns over the banking system.

The Nifty 50 index .NSEI was up 0.21% at 17,020.50 as of 9:39 a.m. IST. The S&P BSE Sensex .BSESN rose 0.25% to 57,800.40. The broader Asian equity indexes also advanced.MKTS/GLOB

Ten of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced, with the heavyweight financials .NIFTYFIN adding 0.3%.

Wall Street equities gained as sentiment improved after First Citizens BancShares agreed to take on deposits and loans from failed Silicon Valley Bank.

Banking concerns eased temporarily in Europe also with Deutsche Bank climbing over 6% following a sharp slide on Friday after its credit default swaps rose to their highest in over four years.

“The financial troubles in key U.S. and European banking entities could be waning after the recent troubles, which is providing some confidence to investors,” Prashanth Tapse of Mehta Equities said, referring to the measures globally to address contagion in the sector. “The overall undertone still remains that of cautious to negative.”

Among individuals stocks, shares of Paytm PAYT.NS rose nearly 3% to a one-month high. Thecompany’s Paytm Wallet is now universally acceptable on all UPI QRs and online merchants.

PNC Infratech’s shares advanced nearly 5% after it was declared lowest bidder for highway project worth 8.19 billion rupees.

($1 = 82.1870 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)

((bharath.rajeswaran@thomsonreuters.com; +91 9769003463))

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