Indian shares close higher as Reliance gains

Indian shares recovered early losses to end higher on Monday, boosted by gains in Reliance, Kotak Mahindra Bank and technology stocks, while world markets were steady on hopes the new coronavirus variant would likely be mild.

Earlier in the day, the benchmark indexes fell more than 1 per cent to hit three-month lows.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) ended 0.16 per cent higher at 17,053.95, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) rose 0.27 per cent to 57,260.58.

Kotak Mahindra Bank (KTKM.NS) led gains in the Nifty, ending up 2.82 per cent. The lender said the Reserve Bank of India had allowed state-run insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation of India to increase its stake in the bank to up to 9.99 per cent from 4.96 per cent as of Sept. 30.

Heavyweight Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) closed 1.2 per cent higher, after rising as much as 3.6 per cent. Its telecom business, Jio, said on Sunday it would raise prepaid tariffs by 21 per cent, matching price increases by rivals Bharti Airtel(BRTI.NS) and Vodafone Idea Ltd (VODA.NS).

Separately, the Economic Times newspaper reported the conglomerate was considering an offer to buy into British telecom firm BT Group Plc (BT.L), which was later denied by the company. “We categorically deny any intent” to bid for BT, Reliance said.

Among the major sub-indexes, the Nifty IT index (.NIFTYIT) was the only gainer, rising 0.76 per cent, with HCL Technologies (HCLT.NS) gaining the most at 2.08 per cent.