Sensex rises; Reliance up on drop in oil prices

By Krishna V Kurup

REUTERS - Indian shares rose on Thursday, buoyed by gains in refiners such as Reliance Industries Ltd as oil prices dropped overnight after crude oil and gasoline stockpiles rose unexpectedly in the United States.

Inventories climbed 1.9 million barrels last week as crude oil production and refining output rose, the Energy Information Administration said. Analysts expected for a decrease of 2.2 million barrels, according to a Reuters poll.

On Thursday, oil markets were stable as rising U.S. stocks were countered by expectations that OPEC will extend an ongoing production cut during a meeting at the end of this month.

The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.45 percent at 10,163.15 as of 0505 GMT, while the benchmark BSE Sensex rose 0.52 percent to 32,931.44. Both the indexes were on track to snap three sessions of losses.

"This is more of a corrective rally after three days of losses," said Arun Kejriwal, Founder at Kejriwal Research.

Oil refiners gained as lower crude oil prices cut input costs. The Nifty energy index gained as much as 1.3 percent, with Reliance Industries Ltd rising 1.7 percent and Indian Oil Corp Ltd advancing 1.2 percent.

Financials also gained. The Nifty bank index rose 0.5 percent, led by Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd and ICICI Bank Ltd. HDFC rose 0.3 percent, while ICICI was 0.8 percent higher.

Shares of Suzlon Energy Ltd declined as much as 6.2 percent, their lowest in more than a year. The renewable power producer suspended operations and declared a lockout at a plant in the southern Indian state of Karnataka due to a workers' dispute.

(Reporting by Krishna V Kurup in Bengaluru; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)