Indian shares recovered early losses and closed up 0.1 percent in a volatile session on Thursday, when global cues dominated, on hopes Athens might ditch its referendum plans. In Athens, Greece's powerful finance minister broke ranks with his prime minister, rejecting a proposed referendum on staying in the euro, hours after they received an ultimatum from France and Germany to make up their minds.
"There is a sentimental revival after the finance minister opposed the referendum talks. There is a belief now that the European crisis will be taken care of in any which way," said Arun Kejriwal, strategist at research firm KRIS. The main 30-share BSE index, which snapped a three-day fall, ended 17.08 points higher at 17,481.93, with 17 of its components falling in choppy trade. It had fallen over 1 percent during the day.
The index has so far shed 15 percent since the start of the year. India's No 1 software services exporter Tata Consultancy Services ended 0.17 percent lower, while rivals Infosys Technologies and Wipro ended down 1.14 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.
In the September-quarter, TCS posted a slightly lower-than-expected rise in quarterly profit, while No 2 Infosys met street forecasts in its earnings. Private lenders HDFC Bank ended down 0.26 percent, while ICICI Bank fell 0.79 percent. Top state-run lender State Bank of India bucked the trend and traded 1.33 percent up.
India's top steelmaker Steel Authority of India closed 3.2 percent lower after it reported net profit for the quarter ended September of 4.95 billion rupees ($100.6 million), less than half its profit for the same period a year ago, and lagging market estimates of 8.56 billion rupees.
Hindustan Unilever fell 2 percent on profit-booking after the stock rose 11 percent since the start of the week. The company on Monday posted a forecast beating 22 percent jump in quarterly net profit. The 50-share NSE index rose 0.14 percent at 5,265.75 points. In the broader market, losers were inches ahead of gainers in the ratio of 1.06:1 on total volume of about 543.9 million shares.
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