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Mumbai: Indian shares rose 2.84 per cent on Tuesday, a fifth straight gain that took them to their highest close in two weeks, on hopes that cuts in bank lending rates would help credit flow more freely and ease a cash squeeze.
The top two banks, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank, rose 6.5 per cent each, with ICICI posting its strongest close in a month.
Hopes that the market's 38 per cent surge from a three-year low hit last week would lead to some foreign inflows helped the rupee strengthen to a three-week high past 48 per dollar, which weighed on software exporters that get half of their revenue from the United States.
Close watch
Infosys Technologies fell 3.3 per cent, and Tata Consultancy and Satyam Computer Services lost both lost 7.4 per cent.
Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the central bank would keep a close watch on cash conditions and banks will provide credit to key sectors, and the chairman of State Bank said his bank would cut lending rates by 25 or 50 basis points.
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