Techs lead 1.35% rise in Indian shares

Mumbai: Indian shares climbed 1.35 per cent yesterday to their highest close in five days, propelled by export-focused software services that rallied as the rupee fell a 13-month low.

Bharti Airtel rose 3.5 per cent to Rs850 after the top mobile operator said it was still in exploratory talks with South Africa's MTN Group and there was no requirement to make a bid.

The stock had fallen sharply when the talks were first announced last week on worries it would be caught in a bidding war and may cost dearly. It is still down five per cent from before the announcement.

Shares in software-services providers, which get more than half their revenue from the United States, were boosted by the depreciating rupee.

"If the rupee continues to slide like this, there will be a direct gain of six-seven percent on the software firms' bottomline," said Raj Bhandari, a director with Networth Stock Broking.

Tata Consultancy Services, India's No. 2 software firm, jumped 7.1 per cent to Rs969.95, while rival Infosys Technologies gained 4.5 per cent to Rs1,826.30. The sector index rose 3.8 per cent.

The 30-share BSE index rose 225.49 points to 16,978.35, its highest close since May 8, with 22 components gaining. However the index, which gained 10.5 per cent in April, is about 16 per cent down in 2008.

In the broader market, 1,418 gainers beat 1,241 losers on volume of nearly 379 million shares.

The 50-share NSE index rose 1.09 per cent to 5,011.75.

Karachi

Pakistan's benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange 100 Index rose 50.94 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 14,593.44 at the 2.15pm local-time close.