Indian shares rebounded on Tuesday, as bargain hunters stepped in after five straight days of losses. Falling oil prices and the strengthening of rupee from a near record low against the dollar amidst what dealers called "massive" intervention from the Reserve Bank of India also encouraged investors to cherry-pick battered stocks.
The benchmark 30-share Sensex ended the session up 112 points or 0.69 percent at 16,328, with 19 of its components advancing. Larsen & Toubro soared 5.4 percent as the engineering & construction giant reported solid earnings and said it expects 15-20 percent growth in topline and order inflows for FY13.
Lenders SBI and ICICI Bank rose 1-2 percent, metal stocks like Hindalco, Jindal Steel, Tata Steel and Sterlite rallied 2-3 percent, property developer DLF added 2.5 percent, two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp advanced 2.7 percent and drug maker Sun Pharma gained 3.2 percent.
The broader Nifty index rose 35 points or 0.71 percent to 4,943, while the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes ended up 0.63 percent and 0.33 percent, respectively.
Scam-tainted stocks such as Reliance Communication, DB Realty and SpiceJet closed up 2-7 percent after a special CBI court granted bail to former telecom minister A Raja in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation case.
IVRCL jumped 4.1 percent on winning orders worth Rs 652.6 crore from the Andhra Pradesh government and various firms. Geometric climbed 15.4 percent on reports Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has bought close to 10 lakh shares of the company via two block deals on the BSE and NSE.
Telecom giant Bharti Airtel tumbled as much as 5 percent early in the session before recouping losses and ending 1.3 percent lower at Rs.303.50 after Minister of State for Finance SS Palanimanickam informed the Rajya Sabha that the company was facing investigation under provisions of money laundering and foreign exchange rules.
Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals plunged 7.7 percent, as it reported disappointing quarterly earnings and reports suggested influential investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has sold his entire 3.3 percent stake in the company over the past two-three trading sessions.
Ashok Leyland ended 0.8 percent lower after reporting weak quarterly earnings and announcing new product launches.
Elsewhere, other Asian markets turned in a mixed performance, as worries about the possible exit of Greece from the euro-zone continue to haunt investors despite Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker dismissing talks of a Greek euro exit as "propaganda."
"I don't envisage, not even for one second, Greece leaving the euro area. This is nonsense, this is propaganda," Juncker was quoted as saying at a post-meeting press conference late Monday, while calling on Greek politicians to form a coalition government that will stick to the deficit reduction program.
European shares were mostly higher in early trading after data showed Germany's economy grew at a faster pace than expected in the first quarter amid a surge in exports to emerging markets. The French economy stalled in the first quarter, in line with expectations, while euro-zone GDP came unchanged from the fourth quarter compared to expectations for a 0.1 percent contraction.
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