Indian shares snapped their four-day losing streak on Thursday as investors bought beaten down stocks while a news report that a government panel had questioned the controversial minimum alternate tax on foreign investors also helped. The BSE index ended 0.14 percent higher, while the NSE index gained 0.08 percent.
Justice AP Shah-led committee report said there was no legal basis to impose minimum alternate tax on foreign institutional investors and foreign portfolio investors, Bloomberg TV reported, citing sources. "This is a sentiment boost, the markets can breathe a sigh of relief," Deven Choksey, managing director of KR Choksey Securities said. Both the BSE index and the NSE index were up 0.72 percent, on track to end a four-session losing streak.
Gains were led by financial stocks such as Axis Bank up 2 percent and ICICI Bank up 0.9 percent and IT stocks such as Infosys, up 1.4 percent, and HCL Tech, up 1.7 percent. Indian stocks were largely flat in the first half of the session on Thursday as a weak rupee weighed on sentiment. The currency touched an intraday low of 65.02 to the dollar earlier on Thursday, its lowest level since September 9, 2013.
Investors were also disappointed after the government failed to pass a key reform on goods and services tax in the monsoon session of parliament that ended on Thursday. Telecom stocks Bharti Airtel rose 1.6 percent after the government on Wednesday allowed telecom operators to share airwaves in the same band to reduce call drops. The move is expected to improve cost efficiencies for telecom companies. Shares of Nestle India gained 5 percent after an Indian court ruled in favour of its appeal challenging Indian food safety regulators' findings that the Swiss group's Maggi instant noodles contained excess levels of lead.