India shares extended record gains to a second session on Thursday on news reports that the government is mulling 100 percent foreign direct investment in the banking sector.
Sentiment also improved after India on Wednesday said it will cut planned additional borrowing for the current fiscal year to 200 billion rupees from 500 billion rupees.
The Indian rupee was trading marginally higher against the U.S. dollar, tracking positive equities.
The S&P BSE Sensex added 0.51 percent at 35,260 while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 0.26 percent to 10,817.
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Among the top Sensex gainers, HDFC rose 2.2 percent, HDFC Bank gained 2.4 percent, Mahindra & Mahindra added 2 percent while ITC was up 3 percent.
Mindtree jumped 10 percent after the company posted a 37.2 percent rise in consolidated net profit in the December quarter.
But UltraTech Cement lost 3 percent after its third-quarter profit declined 23 percent to Rs456 crore.
Market breadth was in the favour of gainers, with about 2 stocks advancing to every 1 stock that declined.
Meanwhile, Asian shares hit record highs as a rally by Wall Street lifted global risk appetite.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 percent, building on the previous day's gains to make a fresh peak., Reuters data showed.
Stocks in the U.S. closed higher overnight with the Dow ending above 26,000 for the first time as investors' expectations for higher earnings boosted stocks.
