Reliance leads gains on Indian benchmark

Mumbai: Indian shares held gains of 1.5 per cent on Tuesday, led by Reliance Industries, but investors were circumspect and watchful after a sharp rebound this week on concerted action across the world to rescue the financial sector.

Pledges by governments to pour cash into troubled banks have eased worries and boosted markets in Asia and Europe, but concerns about a global recession remain.

"The global economic mess is far from getting cleaned up, and although we will see these bouts of rallies they will not be sustained," said Daljit Kohli, head of research at Emkay Global Financial Services.

The 30-share BSE index rose nearly five per cent at one stage to its highest in a week, but lost momentum and shed a large part of the rise towards the close, indicating investors were not willing to risk big open positions.

It ended up 1.54 per cent, or 174.31 points at 11,483.40, with 19 components gaining. The 50-share NSE index rose 0.8 per cent to 3,518.65.