Indian shares up 2 pct on regional rally, Wall Street's strong finish Friday

Indian shares up 2 pct on regional rally, Wall Street's strong finish Friday

	Published : Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:23 By : Agencies Print this Story

MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - Indian shares traded higher following the gains on Wall Street Friday, which advanced on reports of increased consumer spending in the US a day after Thanksgiving Thursday.

Asian markets were also trading higher, as an increased consumer spending in the US bodes well for the region's export-focused economy.

At 0455 GMT, the Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex traded 1.89 pct or 355.57 points higher at 19,208.44, while the National Stock Exchange's S&P CNX Nifty was up 2.10 pct to 5,726.65 points.

Among BSE-30 stocks, 29 shares gained and 1 lost. In the broader market, 1,576 shares advanced and 325 declined and 20 were unchanged.

The gains on BSE were broad-based, with energy and financial stocks leading the front.

Reliance Industries Ltd rose 2.17 pct to 2,872.50 rupees after the company said it had sold a 4.01 pct stake in its listed unit, Reliance Petroleum Ltd, for 40.23 bln rupees to broaden the holding structure of the company.

Reliance Petroleum Ltd, in which US-based Chevron Corp holds 5 pct stake, rose 2.91 pct pct to 215.60 rupees.

ICICI Bank rose 1.90 pct to 1,162 rupees following a 4.74 pct jump in its ADRs, and as renewed interest in financial scrips in the US pulled up sentiment here.

HDFC Bank was up 5.20 pct to 1,644 rupees on follow-up buying after a 7.74 pct surge in its ADRs Friday.

DLF Ltd, which is reportedly being wooed by US-based retailers wanting to launch Indian operations, was up 3.03 pct to 895 rupees. Last week, Indian newspapers said Burger King is interested in setting up a 51:49 joint venture with India's biggest property developer.

Technology shares were also in demand as an advance on the tech-rich Nasdaq spurred short-covering ahead of the expiry of futures contracts on Thursday.

Software bellwether Infosys Technologies Ltd was up 1.86 pct to 1,587 rupees, while bigger peer Tata Consultancy Services Ltd advanced 2.59 pct to 984.85 rupees.

Power Grid Corp rose 2.84 pct to 155.50 rupees after the state-run company said it has formed a joint venture with Mumbai-based power utility Reliance Energy Ltd to execute 300 kilometres of transmission lines for power generation projects in northern India.

While REL will hold a 76 pct stake in the venture, Power Grid will own the remaining 26 pct.

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