BENGALURU: Indian shares rose on Monday after ending the previous session lower, boosted by gains in banking and finance stocks in an upbeat Asian market.

Global equity markets have scaled record highs in recent days on bets that COVID vaccines would start to reduce the infection rates worldwide and on a stronger U.S. economic recovery under President Joe Biden.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.6% to 14,460.60 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.6% to 49,177.99 by 0353 GMT.

Shares of HDFC Bank and Housing Development Finance Corp were the top boosts on the index, gaining 1.3% and 2.7%, respectively. The Nifty bank index  was up 1.3%.

Shares of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, however, fell 3% as it reported a drop in revenue from its oil-to-chemical business but beat profit estimates buoyed by curbed spending. 

Tata Motors Ltd climbed 1.6%, after the automaker hiked prices of its passenger vehicles on Friday.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose slightly to 721.96, hovering close to a record high of 727.31 hit last week. 

(Reporting by Philip George in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich) ((P.george@thomsonreuters.com))