Sensex, Nifty rise; Jio tariff hike boosts telecom stocks

By Tanvi Mehta

REUTERS - Indian shares rose on Monday as telecom stocks gained after Reliance Industries Ltd's unit Jio raised data tariffs last week, signalling more pricing discipline in the sector, while strong global markets also boosted sentiment.

Japanese shares jumped on a weaker yen as an election win for Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc gave a green light for more policy stimulus.

Indian markets hit fresh highs last week and analysts think upcoming corporate earnings will have an impact on the short-term trend. Infosys Ltd and Hindustan Unilever Ltd will report results on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

"Overall global sentiment is good and the Japanese yen has weakened," said Anita Gandhi, whole-time director at Arihant Capital Markets.

"Things this week will also depend on the results."

The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.27 percent at 10,173.85 as of 0542 GMT, while the benchmark BSE Sensex was 0.21 percent higher at 32,456.94.

Indian share markets were closed on Friday for a public holiday.

Reliance Industries rose as much as 2.28 percent to a record high while Bharti Airtel Ltd gained as much as 3.4 percent to its highest level in over eight years.

Idea Cellular Ltd and Reliance Communications Ltd gained over four percent each.

Financial stocks capped the gains on indexes after a rise in bad loans at Axis Bank Ltd last week sparked concerns over recovery of stressed assets. Axis Bank was down 1.8 percent and Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd was trading 1.2 percent lower.

Shares of power-trading bourse Indian Energy Exchange Ltd fell as much as 8.5 percent in its market debut on valuation concerns.

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Vyas Mohan)