Sensex rises; Infosys buyback proposal lifts mood

Sectoral indices, led by metal, IT, realty, teck, consumer durables and oil & gas were trading in the positive zone, with gains up to 1.62 percent.

Mumbai: Indian shares rose for a third consecutive session on Thursday, with Infosys Ltd leading the gains after announcing a likely share buyback, while Asian markets rose as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea eased.

Shares of Infosys, India`s No. 2 software services exporter, rose as much as 3.6 percent after the company said on Wednesday its board would consider a proposal to buy back shares at a meeting later this month.

Sentiment was also upbeat across global markets with Asian shares advancing as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea came off the boil, although the Federal Reserve`s concerns about weak U.S. inflation weighed on the dollar.

"Infosys buyback is a very good thing for other IT companies," said AK Prabhakar, head of research, IDBI Capital.

The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.35 percent at 9,932.40 as of 0530 GMT, while the benchmark BSE Sensex was 0.30 percent higher at 31,867.08.

Infosys drove gains in the Nifty IT index, which climbed as much as 1.4 percent in its biggest intraday percentage gain in nearly a month. KPIT Technologies gained 3 percent and Tech Mahindra 1.6 percent.

The Nifty PSU Bank index, which has lost nearly 9 percent since India`s central bank announced its decision to cut repo rate, gained as much as 1.08 percent.

The Nifty FMCG index was trading 0.3 percent higher after rising 2.5 percent in the previous session.