INDIA STOCKS-Indian shares start 2023 marginally higher on metals boost

BENGALURU, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Indian shares opened

marginally higher on Monday, the first trading session of 2023,

helped by an uptick in metals. The Nifty 50 index was up 0.14% at 18,129.95 as of

9:28 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.12% to

60,917.55. Most of the major sectoral indexes logged gains. Metals rose over 1.5% after China announced

plans to raise export tariffs on aluminium from Jan. 1 in a bid

to improve domestic demand, which analysts said will aid

market-share growth for Indian companies. Asian markets were trading mixed, with the MSCI Asia

ex-Japan index rising 0.05%. The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) managing director

warned that 2023 would be a tougher year than 2022 for the

global economy as all the major engines of global growth–United

States, China and Europe–experience weakening activity. Oil prices rose on year-end holiday travel, with Brent crude

futures at around $86 per barrel. Higher oil prices hurt

oil-importing countries like India, where crude constitutes the

bulk of the country's import bill. Among individual stocks, Tata Motors rose nearly

2% after the company reported a 10% jump in domestic sales in

December.

($1 = 82.7170 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by

Uttaresh.V and Savio D'Souza)