logjam over FDI in retail amid firm Asian cues.

The 30-share barometer, which has gained over 336 points in the previous two sessions, added 105.22 points, or 0.56 per cent, to 18,947.30 led by stocks of consumer durables, capital goods and realty sectors.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty moved up by 27.00 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 5,754.45.

Brokers said persistent capital foreign funds inflow on expectations of an early end to the ongoing parliament logjam over the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail, buoyed the trading sentiments.

Besides, covering-up of short positions by speculators as today being the last session of current month expiry in the derivatives segment, also supported the upside, they added.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose by 0.29 per cent, while the Japan's Nikkei gained 0.67 per cent in early trade today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.83 per cent higher yesterday.

GLOBAL MARKETS ROUNDUP

* Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange rises 0.16 percent. The MSCI-Asia Pacific index excluding Japan is up 0.61 percent.

* U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday after comments from House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, on a possible compromise to avoid the "fiscal cliff" turned the market around.

* Asian shares edged higher on Thursday, mirroring U.S. And European stock rises overnight, as sentiment improved after a senior U.S. lawmaker said he was "optimistic" on reaching a budget deal before the end of the year to avoid a fiscal crisis.

FACTORS TO WATCH

* A ministerial panel, which decides on rules around holding airwaves, meets at 0930 GMT to discuss the next steps.

* Telenor CEO Jon Frederik Baksaas presser in Delhi at 0530 GMT.

* India's parliament resumes for a fifth day after being paralysed for the first four days of the ongoing winter session and a public holiday on Wednesday.

* French food group Danone will hold a press conference to talk about its subsidiary Nutricia.

INDIAN STOCKS TO WATCH

MACRO/POLICY

* The finance ministry is considering a proposal to raise excise duty and service tax by two per cent to 14 per cent each in the Union Budget for 2013-14. The move is likely to help the ministry collect about 300 billion rupees, said a financial ministry official.

* The Reserve Bank has turned down banks' demand for restructuring stressed real estate loans without providing for potential losses, a move that could mount pressure on builders to lower prices as banks push to recover loans, two bankers

familiar with the discussions said.

* The government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are considering relaxation in the stiff valuation norms governing foreign direct investment in unlisted Indian firms, a move that could potential boost private equity flows, said a government official privy to the discussions.

* Four Indian financial services firms agreed to pay nearly $2 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges it provided brokerage services to U.S. Institutional investors without being registered, the regulator said on Tuesday.

* A company cannot use non-compete fee to lower its tax outgo, according to a recent order by the Delhi High Court. The court accepted the income-tax department's argument that non-compete fees are in the nature of capital expenditure and, therefore, not entitled to deduction.

TELECOM

* Norway's Telenor is in talks to merge its Indian operations with Tata Teleservices to gain a bigger foothold in the world's second-biggest mobile phone market, a source with direct knowledge of the situation said on Tuesday.

* The empowered group of ministers on telecom would meet tomorrow to discuss the lukewarm response to the recently concluded auction of 2G telecom spectrum. The EGoM, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, is likely to discuss the revised reserve price of spectrum for the four circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka and Rajasthan that didn't receive any bid in the auction of the 1,800-MHz band in the second week of November.

PHARMA

* India's patents appeal board has dismissed British drugmaker AstraZeneca's petition challenging an earlier ruling that refused patent protection for a cancer-fighting

drug, in the latest blow for Big Pharma in the country.

* Hong Kong brokerage CLSA is selling its stake in India's Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd for $135 million, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.

MEDIA/ENTERTAINMENT

* ICICI Venture, one of the largest private equity firms in the country, is looking to sell its 49 per cent stake in Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd (IENL), which manages Express Towers, located at Mumbai's Nariman Point. ICICI Venture was

currently in talks with a number of investors like Blackstone, two executives in the know of the plans said.

* The management of PVR, India's third largest multiplex operator, has initiated active discussions with a group of private equity investors and non-banking finance

companies (NBFCs) to finance its plan to buy the promoters of Cinemax, another multiplex operator, for 5.50 billion rupees. According to two independent sources, negotiations with Renuka Ramnath's private equity venture Multiples is believed to have reached an advanced stage.

AUTO

* Maruti Suzuki has pleaded inability to pay over 12 billion rupees by way of enhanced land acquisition dues for 600 acres it acquired for the Manesar plant in 2002, and urged the Supreme Court to hear it before taking a call on the enhanced compensation amount for farmers.

RESOURCES

* The French government has found an industrialist willing to invest 400 million euros ($516.4 million) to renovate ArcelorMittal's Florange steelworks in northeast

France, a minister said on Wednesday. (Reuters)

* India's efforts to clamp down on illegal mining have handed a $15 billion lifeline to global iron ore giants, and there could be more to come. Steps taken by federal and state authorities to clean up the mining and export of iron ore have shut down output in two key producing states, slashing shipments and forcing steel mills to import a raw material the country has in abundance.

* A unit of Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group has hired Deutsche Bank to consider options for a 49 percent stake in a Saudi lubricants venture valued at up to $700 million, three sources said.

* The government has decided to keep the reserve price for coal blocks at realistic levels as it prepares to allocate 22 coalfields next month to state-owned companies, a senior government official said.

POWER/INFRA

* With the Maldives government terminating the GMR Group's contract to operate the Male airport, the company stands to lose around 20 percent of revenues coming from its airport operation business.

* Decks have been cleared for setting up of the National Investment Board (NIB) to expedite projects entailing investment of 10 billion rupees and above. To be given both monitoring and approval powers, the body could, however, be called the Cabinet

Committee on Investment (CCI) if the Cabinet so prefers.

HOTELS

* DLF, the country's largest realty company, is close to selling its international hotel chain, Aman Resorts, to a US-based investment company for $325 million (18 billion

rupees). DLF is to offload its stake in the chain, retaining the Aman property in Delhi only

OTHER FACTORS TO WATCH

* Indian debt/FX factors to watch

* Yen off 1-week high, euro firm

* Brent rises towards $110

* Foreign institutional investor flows