Sensex extends recovery; fuel price rise helps

By Sumeet Chatterjee

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Indian shares rose 4.82 percent on Thursday as they extended their recovery from a sharp sell-off as concerns about a global slowdown eased, with state-run oil retailers surging after the government increased fuel prices.

It was the market's biggest daily rise since Jan. 25, and took its gains over the past two days to 7 percent.

Reliance Industries Ltd, India's largest listed firm, rose 5.4 percent to 2,514.70 rupees, taking its gains to 10.5 percent over three days. The stock is still down 12.7 percent in 2008.

The government raised retail prices of petrol and diesel by 4.6 and 3.3 percent respectively to ease losses at state-run oil retailers squeezed by a surge in crude oil prices.

The news boosted shares of the retailers. Indian Oil Corp ended up 13.8 percent, Hindustan Petroleum Corp rose 14.8 percent and Bharat Petroleum Corp gained 10.8 percent.

The BSE 30-share index rose 817.50 points to 17,766.63, its highest close since Feb. 6, with 29 stocks rising. The index had fallen 11 percent over five days to Tuesday, and is still more than 16 percent below a record 21,206.77 hit on Jan. 10.

"It's a technical bounce-back supported by global cues. The market will not go down substantially from these levels, but one should wait for the momentum to build up before venturing in," said Sanjeev Patkar, head of research at Dolat Capital.

Asian stocks powered higher on Thursday, with Tokyo's Nikkei scoring its best daily gain in six years after a surprise increase in U.S. retail sales and strong growth in Japan's eased fears of a sharp global slowdown.