India : Indian shares rise nearly 1 pct; telcos rebound.

Byline: Mamta03

Indian shares climbed nearly 1 percent on Thursday, with bruised telecom stocks among the gainers, as bargain hunters stepped in toward the close after the market fell more than 2 percent.

Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO), the country's top mobile operator, and rival Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO) rose 4.5 percent and 5.3 percent respectively after they had slumped in the past one month. I think these stocks are a good buy from a medium to long-term perspective," said K.K. Mital, head of portfolio management services at Globe Capital. "Negatives were more than priced in the sharp fall we saw."

The stocks were also helped by an Economic Times report that the telecom ministry would seek a fast-track approval from the finance ministry to cut the annual licence fee paid by large operators by up to a third. ID:nDEL175690

Bharti and Reliance Communications are still down nearly 24 percent and more than 42 percent respectively since the start of October, on disappointing September quarter results and a pricing war.

The 30-share BSE index .BSESN closed up 0.95 percent, or 151.77 points, at 16,063.90, after falling as much as 2.2 percent earlier in the day. Twenty-three of its components

gained.

The sentiment was also helped after data from the finance ministry showed April-October direct tax receipts rose 3.9 percent from a year earlier to 1.73 trillion rupees ($36.8 billion). ID:nBMB009023

R. Ganesh, director of Systematix Shares, said investors were returning to beaten down sectors and predicted the market to pull ahead. Some consolidation is not ruled out from here, but the

medium to long-term outlook is definitely bullish," he said.

The stock market has been volatile in recent sessions, with the benchmark index rising 3.3 percent on Wednesday after falling 8.4 percent over six sessions.

Energy giant Reliance Industries (RELI.BO) closed 1 percent higher at 1,939.80 rupees, as the hearing in its gas dispute with Reliance Natural Resources (RENR.BO) resumed.

One of the judges had withdrawn from the Supreme Court hearing on Wednesday, citing potential conflict of interest. ID:nBOM398293

The country's second-largest outsourcer, Infosys Technologies (INFY.BO), closed 0.7 percent lower at 2,223.10 rupees after its chairman's wife sold company shares worth $92 million for setting up a venture capital fund. ID:nBOM241695

Sudha Murthy, wife Infosys co-founder and chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy, sold 2 million shares, or about 22 percent of her total holding. Engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro (LART.BO) shed 0.3 percent to 1,542.25 rupees after The Financial Express reported its outsourcing unit was in talks to buy a majority stake in Patni Computer Systems (PTNI.BO). ID:nBOM460442

Patni Computer jumped 8.2 percent to 494.50 rupees. In the broader market, gainers more than doubled the number of losers on relatively moderate volume of 399 million shares. The 50-share NSE index closed 1.2 percent high

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