April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Indian stocks rose for a fifth day, boosting the benchmark index to its highest in almost six months, on speculation overseas investors stepped up purchases of the nation’s equities.

Reliance Industries Ltd., the nation’s most valuable company, rose 3.2 percent. Larsen & Toubro Ltd., the country’s biggest engineering company, added 4.8 percent. Hindustan Unilever Ltd., India’s largest consumer company, jumped 6.1 percent, the most in five months.

“There is a lot of cash sitting on the sidelines,” said Kenneth Andrade, head of investments at IDFC Asset Management Co., who oversees assets worth $2.9 billion in Mumbai. “Investors who missed the rally from the lows this year might be buying now.”

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, or Sensex, rose 2 percent to 10,742.34, its highest since Oct. 15. The index has climbed 33 percent from this year’s low in March. Markets were closed for a holiday yesterday. The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange added 2.7 percent to 3,342.95. The BSE 200 Index climbed 2.3 percent to 1,261.24. Nifty futures for April delivery gained 3 percent to 3,359.

Overseas investors were net buyers of Indian equities for two straight days until April 2, buying about $230.8 million worth of stocks, according to the latest data available from the market regulator. Investors bought $1.05 billion worth of shares in March.

Reliance rose 3.2 percent to 1,725.15 rupees, its highest since Oct. 3. Larsen gained 4.8 percent to 806.95 rupees. Hindustan Unilever added 6.1 percent to 241.30 rupees, its biggest advance since Nov. 3.

The following shares were among the most active on the exchange:

Essar Oil Ltd. (ESOIL IN) rose 8.7 percent to 129.60 rupees. The refiner owned by India’s Essar Group has gained 81 percent since March 30, without any clear explanation from the company, investors or analysts. “There is no reason for a standalone refiner’s share price to rise so sharply as margins are low,” said Vinay Nair, an analyst at Mumbai-based Khandwala Securities Ltd.

Gammon India Ltd. (GMON IN) rose 12 percent to 78.25. The construction company won an order worth 4 billion rupees from Bhutan, it said in a statement.

NTPC Ltd. (NATP IN) gained 6.7 percent to 196.90 rupees, its highest since May 5. India’s biggest power generator posted a full-year profit of 78 billion rupees, CNBC-TV18 reported, without saying where it got the information.

Tata Motors Ltd. (TTMT IN) gained 6.4 percent to 223.55 rupees. The automaker rose on a report it sold more than 51,000 application forms to customers to order the world’s cheapest car, the Nano, the Economic Times reported, without saying where it got the information.

Each booking form costs 300 rupees ($6), of which Tata Motors will retain 250 rupees and the dealer the remainder, the daily said on its Web site. The forms were available from April 1, the newspaper said.

United Breweries Ltd. (UBBL IN) gained 8.5 percent to 109.25 rupees after 8.6 percent of its equity changed hands in a single block. About 20.69 million shares were traded at 107.5 rupees apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange at 2:32 p.m. local time, data on the Bloomberg showed.

United Breweries Holdings Ltd. (UB IN) surged 20 percent to 104.85 rupees after 8.3 percent of its equity changed hands in a single block. About 5.52 million shares were traded at 91.85 rupees apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange at 2:31 p.m. local time, data on the Bloomberg showed.

To contact the reporter on this story: Pooja Thakur in Mumbai at pthakur@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 8, 2009 06:46 EDT