Sensex rises; Infosys jumps as CEO appointment brings peace hopes

Indian stocks rose on Monday as Infosys Ltd rallied on hopes that the appointment of a new CEO would help the company move on from a feud between its board and founders that had pummelled shares.

Sentiment was also lifted by stronger Asian shares after the passage of a tax bill by the U.S. Senate on Saturday, although worries that the bill would lead to liquidity tightening in emerging markets weighed on investors.

Any gains in Indian shares are also likely to be capped ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s policy meeting on Wednesday. Although the central bank is widely expected to keep rates on hold, investors will watch for any hints of a cut at the February meeting in its statement.

“We had a positive opening in line with Asian peers. We also had some index heavyweights supporting positivity, putting a temporary stop to the negativity that we had seen late last week,” said Anand James, chief market strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

However, markets still look a little hesitant going into the last month of the year, he added.

The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.27 percent at 10,149.25 as of 0635 GMT, while the benchmark BSE Sensex was 0.32 percent higher at 32,938.69. Both indexes were headed for their first session of gain in five.

Infosys shares rose as much as 4 percent after the IT services company on Saturday named Salil Parekh as its new chief executive, handing him the twin challenges of reviving growth and forging peace between its founders and board following a public spat.

Infosys led gains on the Nifty IT index, which rose as much as 1.4 percent.

Among other top gainers on the NSE index, Tata Motors Ltd gained as much as 3.1 percent after posting a 58 percent jump in domestic commercial and passenger vehicles sales in November.

Biocon Ltd hit a record high after the drugmaker and its partner Mylan NV received U.S. FDA approval for generic cancer drug Ogivri.