Indian shares end higher as Reliance surges on airwaves purchase

BENGALURU: Indian shares ended sharply higher on Wednesday as heavyweight Reliance Industries jumped on winning $8 billion worth of airwaves in a spectrum auction, while retreating US bond yields also aided investor sentiment.

The NSE Nifty 50 index ended 2.19% higher at 15,245.60, while the S&P BSE Sensex closed 2.28% higher at 51,444.65.

Indian equities are up nearly 5% so far this week, following an expansion of the country's COVID-19 vaccination drive and upbeat domestic economic growth, while easing US bond yields have lent support.

Investor mood across the globe was also positive with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan adding 1.7% and the Euro STOXX 600 rising 0.7%.

In India, Reliance Industries surged 4.6% to an over four-month high, the top boost to the Nifty, as the conglomerate's telecoms unit picked up 488.35 megahertz (Mhz) of telecom airwaves in a $10.6-billion spectrum auction.

Financial stocks rallied, with Nifty's PSU bank and private bank index closing up 3.16% and 2.75%, respectively.

The Nifty Metal index advanced the most among sectoral indexes, closing up 3.34%, at its highest in three years.

Infosys closed up nearly 3%, its highest in more than four weeks, after a media report said the IT services firm had won a $500 million deal from Alphabet Inc's Google.

The Nifty Auto index was the only sub-index to close in the red, slipping 0.66% after a 3.19% gain in the previous session.

Meanwhile, the Indian government late on Tuesday said there were plenty of COVID-19 vaccines for the country even though it has sent quantities abroad.