Bharti leads Indian shares up 0.6pct; Karachi slips

(Updates to mid-morning)

BANGALORE, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Indian shares rose 0.6 percent on Monday in the final session of 2007, powered by telecom Bharti Airtel Ltd (BRTI.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), with the main index set to end the year up almost 50 percent in its sixth straight year of gains.

Shares in Bharti rose 5 percent to 987.70 rupees after the leading mobile operator said on Friday seven overseas investors, including Temasek and Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), had agreed to buy up to 9 percent in its tower arm for a total $1 billion.

Pakistan's share market slumped as it reopened after last week's assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, which has plunged the country into one of its deepest crises. [ID:nKLR336964]

At 11:40 a.m. (0610 GMT), India's benchmark 30-share BSE index .BSESN was up 0.57 percent, or 114.38 points, at 20,321.33, with 21 components rising.

The index, which had risen as much as 1.4 percent in early deals, is less than 1 percent below its Dec. 13 record high of 20,498.11.

It is up 47.4 percent so far in 2007, compared to a 39 percent rise in Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index .HSI and a 32 percent gain for Korea's Composite Stock Price Index .KS11. "It's really good that we are all set to get into the new year with renewed vigour," said Gajendra Nagpal, director at Unicon Financial in New Delhi.

Analysts expect the pace of the market's rise to slow in 2008, with a possible moderation in earnings and maintaining foreign inflows into Asia's third-largest economy the main challenges.

Data showed foreigners were net buyers of more than $230 million of Indian shares on Thursday, taking their net inflows in 2007 to nearly $17 billion, a record for a single year.