Indian shares ended marginally higher on Thursday, led by gains in oil refiners such as Reliance Industries Ltd as oil prices stabilised and financial stocks such as ICICI Bank Ltd. The broader NSE index closed 0.06 percent higher at 10,308.95, while the benchmark BSE index ended 0.1 percent up at 33,250.93. Reliance Industries closed 1.4 percent higher, while ICICI Bank gained 1.9 percent.
Oil prices settled slightly lower on Wednesday after US government data showed rising domestic crude production, a surprise build in US stockpiles and a decline in monthly Chinese crude imports, a triple blow that was offset somewhat by rising tensions in the Middle East. Energy shares accounted for most of the gains on the NSE index, with the Nifty energy index rising 0.9 percent. Reliance Industries, which rose 2.1 percent, was the top percentage gainer on both the indexes. Hindustan Petroleum, which is due to report second quarter results later in the day, was 1.7 percent higher.