* Investors bet on stronger quarterly earnings
* Banks up on hopes for easier govt bond holding accounting
* L&T, Reliance rise; Bharti Airtel drops
(Updates to midday)
MUMBAI, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Indian shares climbed 1.4
percent on Tuesday, with financial issues such as State Bank of
India (SBI.BO) and ICICI Bank (ICBK.BO) among the gainers on
hopes for easier accounting rules for bond holdings.
Investors are betting data on tax payments by companies
expected this week will indicate stronger earnings for the
September quarter, Deven Choksey, managing director and CEO of
K R Choksey Shares, said.
Leading engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro
Ltd (LART.BO) and energy giant Reliance Industries Ltd
(RELI.BO) led the gainers on signs a pick-up in economic
activity will help the companies.
By noon (0630 GMT), the 30-share BSE index .BSESN was up
1.4 percent at 16,439.40 rupees, with 28 components in the
green.
The benchmark, which had snapped a six-session rally on
Monday, last week more than doubled from its March low and is
up around 70 percent since the beginning of the year.
Telecoms firm Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO) was down 0.2 percent
at 418.65 rupees after a South African official said its
proposed tie-up with mobile phone group MTN (MTNJ.J) would need
cabinet approval in South Africa. [ID:nBOM478063]
State Bank, India's largest lender, rose 2.25 percent to
2,000 rupees and rival ICICI gained a percent to 834 rupees on
hopes the central bank would raise their hold-to-maturity (HTM)
limits of government bond holdings -- a move that would reduce
notional mark-to-market provisioning.
A Reserve Bank of India official told reporters on Monday
the central bank would examine a proposal to raise the HTM
limits of government bond holdings of commercial banks.
[ID:nBMA005917]
Reliance Industries was up 1.3 percent at 2,174.50 rupees
while Larsen & Toubro rose 1.8 percent to 1,635.90 rupees.
In the broader market, gainers were nearly three times the
number of losers on moderate volume of 148 million shares.
The 50-share NSE index was up 1.6 percent at
4,887.25.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei .N225 was trading 0.1 percent
higher, while MSCI's measure of other Asian markets .MSCIAPJ
was up 0.8 percent.
MAIN TOP 3 BY VOLUME
* Unitech (UNTE.BO) on 4.8 million shares
* Ispat Industries (ISPT.BO) on 3.2 million shares
* Suzlon Energy (SUZL.BO) on 3.2 million shares
STOCKS ON THE MOVE
* Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (GLEN.BO) rose 1.7 percent to
219.05 rupees on the drug maker's plans to raise 4.03 billion
rupees by issuing 1.87 million shares to qualified
institutional players at 221 rupees each.
* Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVLS.BO) rose as much as 12.3 percent
to 121.55 rupees after it announced a rights offer of one share
for every held at 54 rupees each.
FACTORS TO WATCH
* For technical analysis, double click on
www.reutersindia.net
* Indian rupee bounces off 1-wk low as Asian units up
[INR/]
* Indian bond yields in tight band, rate futures dip
[IN/]
* Dollar edges up vs yen, hovers above 7-mth low
[FRX/]
* Oil steady below $69 on strong equities, weak dollar
[O/R]
* Wall St gains as merger activity boosts mood
[.N]
* Asia stocks edge up on exporters, dlr drifts
[MKTS/GLOB]
* For closing rates of Indian ADRs
INADR
(Reporting by Ami Shah; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)
