Indian Shares Shrug Off Greek Woes

(RTTNews) - The Indian markets rose on Monday despite the sell-off across Asia and Europe after Greeks overwhelmingly voted against conditions for a rescue package in the weekend's bailout referendum.

The benchmark index BSE Sensex fell more than 1 percent early in the session before reversing direction to end the session up 115.97 points or 0.41 percent at 28,208.76, its highest level in nearly 2-1/2 months, led by gains in healthcare, auto and banking stocks.

The broader Nifty index closed up 37.25 points or 0.44 percent at 8,522.15, while the rupee recovered in late deals after opening sharply lower at 63.62 per dollar.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories soared nearly 4 percent and Cipla rallied 3.4 percent, while SBI, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, Lupin, TCS and Hero MotoCorp rose about 1 percent each.

Carrier Jet Airways soared 11 percent and low-cost airline SpiceJet climbed 3 percent after oil prices fell to a three-month low on fears of a potential increase in Iranian oil supply. State-run oil marketing companies BPCL, HPCL and IOC rose 2-4 percent.

"We are closely monitoring the situation as India may be indirectly impacted by the Greek debt crisis." Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said.

Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian has said the country is relatively well insulated from the Greece situation, although rupee might get affected to some extent due to flight of foreign investment.

The Asian markets fell broadly and European stocks drifted lower in early trading as the outcome of the Greek referendum triggered widespread risk aversion. Chinese stocks, however, closed sharply higher in a highly volatile session after policymakers unleashed unprecedented rescue measures over the weekend.