Indian shares rose 1.3 percent on Thursday as short-covering on the last day of monthly derivatives and strong results from engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro helped shrug off tepid markets across Asia and Europe. Leading mobile operator Bharti Airtel bounced 3.4 percent after falling more than 10 percent over the past three days following revived merger talks with South Africa's MTN.
The 30-share BSE index ended up 186.37 points at 14,296.01, with 20 stocks advancing, after briefly turning negative in early deals. "Lots of companies, including L&T, have come out with solid results. This has given a real boost of confidence for the market," Alex Mathew, head of research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, said from Kollam in southern Kerala state.
Larsen gained 2.3 percent to 1,341.80 rupees after its quarterly results beat forecasts and the company forecast robust orders. The BSE index has jumped by more than three-quarters from a 2009 low in early March, as increased investor confidence across the globe brought in about $5.5 billion of investments from foreign funds.
Energy giant Reliance Industries, which has the most weight in the main index, rose 1.5 percent to 2,219.90 rupees, while private-sector lender ICICI Bank added 2.7 percent to 729.50 rupees. In the broader section, gainers led losers 1,745 to 1,022 on relatively heavy volume of 722.6 million shares. The 50-share NSE index rose 1.4 percent to 4,337.10.
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