Indian shares end higher as Asia cheers Wall St gain; RIL, Hindalco outperform

Indian shares end higher as Asia cheers Wall St gain; RIL, Hindalco outperform

	Published : Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:13 By : Agencies Print this Story

MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - Indian shares extended yesterday's gains and closed higher, after reports that US consumers had stepped up purchases a day after Thanksgiving Thursday perked up sentiment in the export-focused Asian markets.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex ended 2.09 pct or 394.67 points higher at 19,247.54, largely due to brisk demand for the shares of India's most valuable company Reliance Industries Ltd.

The National Stock Exchange's S&P CNX Nifty ended 2.19 pct up at 5,731.70 points.

Among BSE-30 stocks, 28 shares gained and only 2 lost. In the broader market, 1,818 shares advanced, 989 declined and 58 were unchanged.

Copper and aluminium producer Hindalco Industries Ltd rose 3.32 pct to 194.30 rupees, on hopes that M&A activity would pick up in the domestic circuit, after mining stocks in Europe surged on reports that a Chinese fund will team up with local steel companies to bid 200 bln usd for Rio Tinto in order to fend off suitor BHP Billiton.

Oil and petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries rose 2.54 pct to 2,882.85 rupees on news that the company has sold a 4.01 pct stake in its listed unit Reliance Petroleum Ltd for 40.23 bln rupees. Reliance Petroleum, in which US-based Chevron Corp holds 5 pct, rose 2.60 pct to 204.50 rupees.

Shares of software exporters also rose 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 jumped 1.18 pct to 1,157.65 rupees, while larger peer Tata Consultancy Services rose 2.60 pct to 985 rupees.

Financial shares gained as renewed interest in financial scrips in the US pulled up sentiment here.

ICICI Bank, India's second-largest lender, rose 1.52 pct to 1,157.65 rupees. HDFC Bank, whose ADRs gained a whopping 7.74 pct on Wall Street Friday, jumped 5.18 pct to 1,643.70 rupees on the BSE.

North India-based DLF Ltd, which is being wooed by US retailers wanting to set up operations in India, gained 2.68 pct to 891.90 rupees. Last week, local media reported that food chains Burger King and Wendy's were interested in setting up joint ventures with India's largest property developer.

IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects Ltd rose 1.80 pct to 475.25 rupees after the company announced winning fresh orders worth 3.29 bln rupees, in western and southern India.

Parsvnath Developers Ltd rose 2.51 pct to 346.70 rupees after the company said it has incorporated a retailing unit, Parsvnath Retail Ltd.

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