Sensex Ends Up 2.9%

MUMBAI -- Extensive buying in technology, banking and auto stocks helped Indian shares reverse early losses to close higher Thursday, after falling for the past three sessions.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensitive Index finished up 2.9% at 11,134.99. It traded between 10,758.97 and 11,203.28 during the session, which saw 27 of the index's 30 index components ending higher.

Market experts said there was short covering in banking and auto stocks ahead of derivatives expiry in a truncated trading week.

Indian markets will be closed April 30 for voting in the general election, and the current derivatives contract will expire April 29.

"I think the markets witnessed a lot of participation from people who were sitting on the sidelines," said Ambareesh Baliga, vice president at Karvy Stock Broking.

Mr. Baliga expects the market to "hold on" till the settlement date, anticipating a 10,500 to 11,200 range for the Sensex.

Total traded volume on the Bombay Stock Exchange was 47.35 billion rupees, compared with Wednesday's 50.06 billion rupees. Market breadth was positive with gainers beating losers 1,441 to 1,056, while 103 stocks were unchanged. The BSE IT index advanced 5.2% to 2,549.71 to be the biggest gainer among the exchange's 13 sectoral indexes.

Wipro surged 11.1% to 312.95 rupees to be the largest gainer on the Sensex as analysts viewed the company's fourth-quarter results as being better than that of its peers.

The software exporter Wednesday beat market estimates with a 4% rise in financial fourth quarter net profit to 9.07 billion rupees. Total revenue - including from IT services, IT products, consumer care and the lighting business - rising 17% to 65.46 billion rupees.

Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services also gained momentum, ending up 5.1% and 4.6% at 1,449.85 rupees and 567.95 rupees, respectively.

ICICI Bank advanced 5.9% to 423.60 rupees while State Bank of India rose 2.7% to 1,265.70 rupees.

Among auto stocks, Maruti Suzuki jumped 6.0% to 799.65 rupees, Tata Motors rose 5.6% to 245.35 rupees and Mahindra and Mahindra advanced 4.4% to 442.95 rupees.

Reliance Industries, the country's largest company by market capitalization, ended up 2.7% at 1,762.35 rupees. After the market closed, the company said its fourth-quarter net profit fell to 35.46 billion from 39.12 billion rupees.

Engineering and construction company Larsen and Toubro gained 4.5% to 864.35 rupees while DLF, the country's largest real estate company by sales, ended up 4.8% at 238.15 rupees.

Tata Steel, up 9.0% at 262.80 rupees, and Grasim Industries, up 7.2% at 1,706 rupees, were the other big gainers.

Beyond the Sensex, Zee Entertainment, India's largest listed broadcaster by revenue, slumped 6.4% to 118.55 rupees, weighed down by concerns over falling advertising revenue and higher financing costs.

On the National Stock Exchange, the 50-stock S&P CNX Nifty closed up 93.40 points, or 2.8%, at 3,423.70. LINK...