Indian shares climb 1 pct; L&T rallies

* Rise not enough to erase Sensex losses on week

* Engineering conglomerate L&T helped by result, upgrades

* ITC up 0.9 pct ahead of results

(Updates to late morning)

BANGALORE, May 20 (Reuters) - Indian shares climbed more
than 1 percent on Friday, led by engineering and construction
conglomerate Larsen & Toubro and supported by mostly
firmer regional markets.

The rise, after modest gains on Thursday, will not be enough
to wipe out losses of 2.4 percent in the first three days this
week caused by worries about rising interest rates.

L&T, which had posted a 17.2 percent rise in quarterly
profit on Thursday and forecast revenue to rise a quarter this
year, was boosted by upgrades in share price targets by at least
two brokerages.

At 11:43 a.m. (0613 GMT), the 30-share BSE index
was up 1.05 percent at 18,331.05 points, with all but one of its
components advancing.

"Larsen is playing a decent role in pulling up the index.
Post SBI results, people were sceptical if Larsen would
deliver. The results were a pleasant surprise," said Ambareesh
Baliga, chief operating officer at Way2Wealth Securities.

RBS raised its rating on Larsen to buy from hold and raised
its price target, calling it the "best play on the road-based
longer-term Indian capex story". [ID:nBMA009806]

L&T was trading up 3.7 percent at 1,654 rupees, after
gaining 5.8 percent on Thursday.

Goldman Sachs raised its price target for L&T to 2,006
rupees from 1,987, while Bank of America-Merrill Lynch cut its
target to 2,070 rupees from 2,280 saying the company was facing
a delay in orders.

State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender,
nudged up 0.6 percent to 2,337.05 rupees, after sliding nearly
11 percent since reporting an unexpected slump in quarter profit
on Tuesday.

Leading cigarette maker ITC was trading 0.9 percent
higher ahead of March-quarter results.

Analysts, on average, expect the company to post a 19
percent rise in net profit to 12.25 billion rupees, on net sales
of 55.18 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Energy major Reliance Industries , which has the
heaviest weight on the benchmark index, dipped 0.1 percent to
914.50 rupees. The stock has fallen over 13 percent this year,
mainly on concerns over decline in gas output from its blocks
off India's east coast.

The 50-share NSE index was up 0.88 percent at
5,476.15 points. In the broader market 951 gainers led 369
losers on volume of over 193 million shares.

Elsewhere, the MSCI's measure of Asian markets other than
Japan was up 0.12 percent by 0623 GMT, while
Japan's Nikkei was down 0.1 percent.

STOCKS ON THE MOVE

* Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd rose as much
as 6.1 percent to 18.90 rupees after its board approved a rights
issue of up to 2 billion rupees. It also deferred considering
issue of preference shares to Gammon India Ltd .
[ID:nL4E7GJ2OM]

* Drugmaker Wockhardt Ltd was trading 6.3 percent
higher at 359.25 rupees after it reported a net profit of 1.62
billion rupees for the March quarter, reversing a loss a year
earlier. [ID:nBMB012911]

* Crompton Greaves Ltd was up 2.8 percent at
244.95 rupees after the capital goods maker said it bought
Sweden-based Emotron Group for an enterprise value of 57.8
million euros. [ID:nWNAS2146]

MAIN TOP THREE BY VOLUME ON NSE

* Unitech Ltd on 10.9 million shares

* Ashok Leyland on 8.2 million shares

* IDFC on 4.2 million shares

FACTORS TO WATCH
* For technical analysis click on www.reuterstechnicals.net
* Indian rupee report
* Indian bond report
* FOREX-Euro steady above recent 7-week low, yen dips
* Oil nears $99 as Thursday's dip lures buyers
* Weak dollar stokes equity gains, outlook wary
* Wall Street hits resistance; LinkedIn soars in debut
* For closing rates of Indian ADRs
(Reporting by Bharghavi Nagaraju; Additional reporting by
Devidutta Tripathy in NEW DELHI; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)

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