Sensex near three-month high; beaten down stocks up

By Abhishek Vishnoi

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex rose on Monday to close near a three-month high hit on Thursday, led by gains in stocks beaten down earlier, such as TCS, which rose on short covering, and metals firm Hindalco Industries , following copper's rally on Friday.

Gains also tracked higher Asian shares as investors cheered the upbeat U.S. labour force report which sent Wall Street to an all-time closing high last week.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed nearly 1 percent on Monday.

Disappointed by the RBI chief's comments on Friday that there was little room for further policy easing, investors are pinning hopes on foreign inflows and government efforts to revive the economy.

"Long-term FII flows is what the market needs for the current levels to sustain, which are scarce," said Deven Choksey, managing director of KR Choksey Securities.

The government has the intent, but commitment and execution are absent, added Choksey.

The Sensex ended up 0.5 percent, or 98 points, at 19,673.64, marking its fourth positive close in five sessions.

The Nifty rose 0.46 percent, or 27.05 points, to end at 5,971.05.

Foreign investors have bought $11.97 billion of stocks in 2013 so far, data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India showed.

Technology shares rose on value buying after the recent sell-off. Infosys rose 1.4 percent after a steep fall of 22 percent in April due to poor quarterly results, while Tata Consultancy Services ended 3.4 percent higher.

Shares in copper refiners gained on expectations of better realisations after the metal rose more than 6 percent on Friday, its strongest daily gain in 18 months, as economic stimulus moves by central banks raised investor confidence.

Sterlite Industries shares gained 1.6 percent, while Hindalco rose 3.7 percent.

Among other metal stocks, Tata Steel ended 3.7 percent higher, while Jindal Steel and Power gained 2.6 percent.

Titan Industries rose 1.5 percent after reporting a 28.5 percent jump in its Jan-March profit to 1.85 billion rupees on Friday.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals rose 3.2 percent ahead of quarterly results on Tuesday, although it could miss the earnings consensus forecast, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine data.

Among stocks that fell, cement makers ACC fell 1.3 percent and Ambuja Cements ended 1.4 percent lower after their March quarter margins failed to impress investors, dealers said.

Adani Power shares fell 0.8 percent after its March-quarter net loss widened to 5.86 billion rupees from 2.85 billion rupees in the previous quarter.

(Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)