Indian shares climb on tech stock buying

MUMBAI, India --Indian shares rose slightly Monday on buying in Bharti Airtel and software shares, despite continued selling in cement stocks.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-stock Sensitive Index, or Sensex, rose 0.1 percent, or 17.64 points, to 12,902.63 points.

On the rival National Stock Exchange, the 50-stock S&P CNX Nifty rose 16.60 points, or 0.5 percent, to 3,734.60 points.

"Though the markets opened slightly up, there has been selling at higher levels," said Ajit Surana, managing director at Dimensional Securities. "The market's breadth is not good at present and investors are not willing to buy aggressively."

Among the gainers was Bharti Airtel Ltd., which moved up 2.6 percent at 770 rupees, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., which rose 2 percent at 1,238 rupees, and Satyam Computer Services Ltd., which rose 0.9 percent to 442 rupees.

Cement stocks fell on fears that profits could come under pressure due to higher input costs after the industry agreed to cap prices for a year following a meeting with the government last week.

ACC lost 4.3 percent to 748 rupees and Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd. fell 4.3 percent to 105 rupees.